


Ruby of the East

by princeruu



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Bard!Mingi, Butcher!Seonghwa, Elf!Hongjoong, Elves, Enemies to Lovers, Fantasy, Fluff, Fluffy!Yunho, Friendship, Hunter!San, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:35:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25632907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princeruu/pseuds/princeruu
Summary: Coming from a prominent family of royal minstrels, Mingi was tone deaf, free-spirited, and a coward. After one encounter with a mythical being in his backyard, Mingi's world expanded uncontrollably. Would Mingi step into the real world and discover a wholesome adventure with comrades he met along the way?This is the story of the legendary bard Song Mingi.
Relationships: Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa, Potential relationship will be revealed along with the story, cuddly yungi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!! 
> 
> First of all, what a comeback!! I wish Ateez good luck for the rest of their promotion.
> 
> This time I am inspired by a wonderful ateez series by 0KKULTiC so I decided to write a multi-chapter adventure fic. I heavily referenced the Witcher's macrocosm as my background since I choose medieval theme. Any unfamiliar name can be found within the Witcher's dictionary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!! 
> 
> First of all, what a comeback!! I wish Ateez good luck for the rest of their promotion.
> 
> This time I am inspired by a wonderful ateez series by 0KKULTiC so I decided to write a multi-chapter adventure fic. I heavily referenced the Witcher's macrocosm as my background since I choose medieval theme. Any unfamiliar name can be found within the Witcher's dictionary.

On a faraway land, a wooden hut stood inside a forest. The vocational hut was owned by a well known family and inside, there laid a young man, a well built lad, almost 20 in his barely functioning soon to be adulthood. He ruffled his red hair as he tossed around on the wooden bed. People referred him as Mingi, just Mingi, his parents, his brother, his servants, the kids from the city, all called him Mingi. He liked it though, the name sounded fun and civil.

The said Mingi chucked his body from one side to another, not-so-idle thoughts crammed his head, the thoughts on what path to choose because the next month would be the month where he should have became a fully functioning adult.

When he found no salvation out of the brief contemplation, the lad rose into a seated position. He tapped a Tabor laying on the table with his palm until the tangy pang filled the cabin.

It was strange..

Mingi thought. How the slightest vibration from the vellum head could shake his resolution and made him fell in love with his passion all over again. Music. Mingi loved music. But not any music, he loved his music. Instead of plucking the harp and sang harmonious ballad, he tapped his Tabor again. He tapped and tapped with variations of beat 1/4 - 1/4 - 3/4 - 7/8 and he repeated the string of drums again in a peculiar yet orderly replay.

“Mingi, that’s not music” 

He grunted as the image of his father ghosted his memory. Pursuing his love for music didn’t come easy. He rose and fell a million times plucking the strings until his fingers bleed and broke, calloused way worse than a blacksmith’s. But even with all those sacrifices, the sonority coming from Mingi’s harp never resonated with the love he had towards music. For sure music ran through his blood like every other Song-family members but it hit Mingi differently.

The Song Family was a royalty of their own. They were not noblemen from the get go, but their flawless string play, dulcet modulation, and fiery red locks had earned them a place in The Palace as The Majesty’s beloved minstrels. After the first generation of the Song-Quartet, quite the moniker, rang bells all over the Eastern Empire, they had never failed to send yet another red haired Adonis to further The Palace’s grace.

The Songs also came with invaluable artistry of musical instruments. People could name a hundred instruments and The Songs could still come up with more master crafted quality that none could rival. It was only a matter of time until the Eastern Empire, along with the eminent consign of silk, also bore the title of stringed instrument connoisseur. That alone could bring the family name to the top of the empire crowned by the epithet ruby of the east, yet there sat Song Mingi on a bench in the hut of the north forest.

Once a month, the Song family’s laborers would travel across the hides to gather the best quality mahogany which was also the key ingredient to their eloquent stringed pieces. The branch family deals with the woodwork while the rest of the family kept the business going by pleasing noblemen in the Emperor’s Keep, well except the main family’s firstborn who had his best time dwelling with deer hides and hand woven strings.

Earlier in his teen hood, Mingi found out about the vocational hut. The family used it to store woods and animal hides. The hut was pungent and smelled like a 10 years old mossy cellar but he humbly regarded basking in these earthly emanation smelled way better than kissing noblemen’s asses. His father didn’t specifically told him he couldn’t go there but when he found out Mingi had gone there once when he was 15, he got grounded. The old minstrel said that the north forest was dangerous, that there were beasts and witches living there, but how could they cultivated those abundance of woods and animal products if there were indeed beasts and witches? Mingi called bullshit and sneaked there every time the Emperor held parties and ceremonies. His father wouldn’t go and looked for him anyway. 

As if on cue, a rhythmic thud caught the young man’s attention. It’s there. One of the additional reasons why Mingi loved visiting the hut was the expected visit of this guest he had been secretly meeting for the past months. He put aside his Tabor and giddily opened the door. In front of him stood his loyal audience, the one who always sided with him and put a genuine smile on Mingi’s face. 

“Yunho!”

“Arf!”

Yunho arrived one day, out of nowhere, sitting outside of the hut while wagging its tail along with Mingi’s eccentric beats. It was too big to be called a dog but even though Mingi was a big coward, he loooooved fluffy things. Yunho’s fur was a gradation of light to dark chocolate. A tint of golden fur marked the back of its head. Its fur was medium length supporting perky ears and a bushy tail. A pair of golden eyes stared right into Mingi’s own with zero doubt. Yunho was pure and gorgeous. One of if not the most gorgeous canine Mingi had ever put his eyes on. He had to resist the urge to just chain the canis up and dragged it home. The stupid perk of the rich. 

But the thing was, Yunho was big. So big. Even Mingi didn't completely ruled out the possibility of Yunho coming from a more vicious species than dogs but no vicious dog was ever going to just sit on his terrace, wagging its tail, bobbing its head up and down along with the rhythm of Mingi’s Tabor. Maybe there was a big dog breed that he didn’t know about. Another thing about Yunho was, it seemed that there was always someone behind him, hidden in the bushes, probably thinking that they were smart enough but Mingi’s trained ears might be even better than Yunho’s. Mingi even jokingly named it “Yunho” just to try to spite the “one in the bushes” to fish them out and maybe enjoy music together? But apparently they were rather shy because 1. Mingi’s built was intimidating, 2. Mingi’s hair was intimidating, and 3. Mingi’s way of dressing and his face were kind of intimidating. There were a lot of orphans during war time years ago so one or two might strayed into the forest with their dog and just shared weird sense of music with him. 

”Arf”

Yunho’s bark disrupted Mingi’s train of thoughts. Mingi was a day dreamer, it was not rare for him to drift into imaginations before finding out that he was out for a significant amount of time. Not this time though, because someone special was there with him. Yunho’s moral gaze prompted Mingi to fish out a piece of parchment from his pocket. The young man leered towards the dog’s direction as if searching for assurance, which the dog granted. Seeing the ever enthusiastic gaze from Yunho, a sudden bravado crept up Mingi’s chest and he began chanting the endless lyrics written on the parchment paper.

The day before, Mingi’s traveler uncle came and told him a story about his encounter with a wraith. She was a sickly orphan but she died on her way to bring her foster mother her favorite daffodils. She ironically perished at a daffodil field and she couldn't let go ever since. Mingi spent the whole night bawling his eyes out while writing down everything, to the very detail of his uncle’s brows curling in empathy. Yunho was his first, might also be his last audience for this play.

The percussion started, low and careful, keeping the air steady while the young man tuned his voice before chipping in. Mingi’s vocal wasn't made for ballad. His voice was deep, husky, and bouncy. He liked writing lyrics, reciting poems, which resulted into him squeezing his imaginative idea and literary creativity into a piece that his father thought was garbage. Mingi couldn't deny that his taste of music was different than others, but music never had a fixed standard, music was an expression of the soul, and Mingi’s soul bleed for low strums, vivacious rhythms, and rapid chant of explicit story.

Mingi’s flow went faster, the drums thumped harder, and the emotion in his chords progressed overwhelmingly. His music resonated through the surrounding of the shack along with the mind-numbing beat of his percussion. He chanted and chanted every words with more passion than the previous. He stopped for a breath only to came back again with additional power and aggressiveness. When he realized that he was loud enough to draw forest creatures on to him, Mingi had done chanting 2 full pages of the lady daffodil’s tale. He was panting for extra oxygen when he realized the rustling sound from the bushes was no longer apparent.

The silence only lasted for a second. Instead of the awaited rustling, Mingi could hear fainted claps and then a ”shite”. So it really was someone. And that someone might be too stupid or too genuine for their own good. Mingi was eager to know because no matter which, they seemed to like his humble offering.

”Hey wait..”

Just when Mingi tossed his Tabor away to catch up with the stranger, the bushes rustled even more violently as if his secret admirer tried to flee. He couldn't reacted fast enough to catch a glimpse of that person, so he could only managed to shout.

”Wait! Wait! I want to see you!”

’Sssrhhsrhsrh’ ’thud’ ’crash’

”Ouuuucchh”

Mingi used the chance to slip into the bushes, finding someone, a boy. The boy was sprawled on the ground, his right leg got tangled with those twirly beggatrick stems. He wore a beige shirt underneath the lime green sleeveless tunic. A string of coffee colored obi lined his skinny waist securely.

Now it was clear that something inside Mingi clashed really badly. First of all Mingi’s bleeding desire for world peace really wouldn't mind grabbing the boy’s legs to prevent him from going away. They might share some words and probably made acquaintances and be friends or something? But then the ’something’ hit Mingi on the face, hard and raw, because instead of the usual easterling’s feature, the boy’s hair was really pale, almost white. An undeniable shock was apparent all over his well structured face. His clothing looked old but was definitely well taken care of. However, no matter how fast the boy picked up his fallen head piece and put it back on again, he still couldn't hide the unnatural hair color and the points on the tips of his ears. This was what made Mingi’s stomach lurched and his body fell limp on the ground ass first.

This boy was not human.

And Mingi was alone, in the woods with what people said had beasts and witches, and he also happened to be a big Big BIG coward. His head spun and his mouth went ’shit shit shit shit’.

_Shit shit shit shit_

Mingi’s initial inkling was to run. Fast. Run and never looked back. One thousand scenarios iterated in his mind. Maybe this being, whatever it is, had their eyes on him since day one. They would command Yunho to bite and bring him back to their kind, he would be held hostage, questioned, threatened, tormented, and while Mingi’s body burned in purgatory flame he would regret ever rebeling to his father and went to the forest. On the sideline, Yunho and it's master wore satisfactory grins at him because he was so stupid and slow and weak and they had a successful human hunt after waiting for so long.

”Arf”

Yunho barked once again and Mingi choked on his breath. His mind jumped back to reality where the canine still laid languidly with wiggly tail and bright brilliant eyes, no sign of hostility was apparent. A rustling sound from his opposite direction turned Mingi’s head and instead of a human-hungry smirk, the being had an equally terrified and questionable look on his face. Maybe the thousand scenarios Mingi played were false? Maybe he was as lost and as civil as him? But Mingi thought being over aware of his own safety wouldn't hurt so he stepped on his boots, ready to backpedal and never go back again, he would apologize to his father and study vocalization and violin harder. His breath hitched as hyperventilation hit him along with panic.

”Wait! Wait! Don't tell anyone please! Please I beg you!!”

The voice that reached Mingi was clear and laden with obvious worry. If initially there was a doubt in Mingi that the unfamiliar being might be a boy, a girl, or even had any gender at all since the androgynous look almost misled him, Mingi was quite sure that it was a ’he’. Upon closer inspection because that one concerned shout melted Mingi’s social bleeding heart, the lean figure in front of him was clearly akin to a boy aside from his unnaturally pale hair and pointy ears. A halfling? An elf? Whatever he was, he earned Mingi’s attention albeit the panic and hyperventilation.

”I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I won't tell anyone! Not my father, not my mother, not the baron, the guards, the hunters, the knights, the peller, the king.. Just, just spare me! I wanna go home!” The young man shouted back. His own voice was wet with fear.

”I.. I meant no harm. I just.. I like hearing you sing. It’s beautiful. The Lady Daffodil is beautiful..” the pale haired boy stopped on his track as if Mingi’s sudden outburst had built an invisible wall between them.

”Was. She-she WAS beautiful..” Mingi stuttered. The wall of tension still stood between them but the air, and the ambiance got warmer, melted by the uniform sympathy the two of them bore for the lady in Mingi’s story, real or not.

The seconds of understanding slowly but sure wiped the abrupt frantic that burst between the two. The mood was much calmer even though time still froze. They stood face to face, eyes furious as they traveled along the equally unfamiliar figure in front of themselves.

”H-hi. I’m Hongjoong..” The shorter of the two stretched his hand for the other to shake. He nodded to the other guy as if reassuring that he wouldn't bite nor he had any harmful intention towards him.

”Mingi..” Mingi said carefully, feeling pathetic as the obviously smaller and way weaker looking guy treated him like a precious little snowflake that would break at the slightest touch. Mingi might be a coward, but he was a proud coward.

”Okay.”

”Woof Woof!”

Two pairs of eyes darted from each other to Yunho’s direction. The canine was scratching the side of Mingi’s Tabor laying on the ground, asking for the two to stop being dramatic and just play the music already.

Yunho’s eyes were sharp and so pure they made Mingi grudgingly admitting his father. At that specific time, he couldn't argue with the old man’s remark that Mingi was a fool. A spontaneous fool who completely disregarded human survival instinct and instead opted to worship a questionably possible camaraderie.

”Do you play music?”

One shiny pair of green orbs lighted in interest at Mingi’s unsure question.

”I do.”

And that was the how Mingi met Hongjoong, the epilogue of the tale of the legendary bard Song Mingi.

~continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I plan to make this a long series I would like your feedback on your interest in this story. Should I make it a full on story?


	2. Chapter 2

  
Mingi threw his gaze to his right as fast as possible when he met eyes with a person on the other side of the road. Some days, rather than galloping across the hides, he preferred a simple walk. It took approximately an hour of walk from the nearest civilization to the Song’s hut so when the weather was friendly and his father was away in an excursion for days, Mingi opted for a walk. He would daydream, constructing his next piece of music before facing Yunho and the equally dog-eyed Hongjoong.

The stranger’s face was not completely foreign for him though. Mingi thought he might had seen the man somewhere in the city. He frequented the City Square just to sit and admire the horde of people doing their things sporadically without colliding with each other as if each had their own standalone system. It was simple yet so mesmerizing. Sometimes he put them into words and kept them in his endless piece of parchment. Mingi could at least recognize one or two regular faces. If his memory didn't con him, the person across the road might be the butcher’s son. He was of an average built, had a bit more centimeters on him, tanned skin, jet black hair, his dark jacket and trousers looked way better than the usual blood and gut stained apron he used behind the meat stall. A pair of well fitted yet overused boots covered both his legs, showcasing more of his built. He had a nice face, might have been lucky with the ladies even. But this was not about how elaborate Mingi was with the stranger. After this intersection, what ahead of them was only the northern forest and they didn't seem to be going on separate ways any time soon. Was there someone as unlikely as Mingi to go into the woods of bad news?

Mingi didn't have eyes on the side of his head but he was pretty sure the familiar stranger eyed him as well. Unlike him, even Mingi’s simplest outwear still reeked of nobility. His long camel coat sluggishly shaded the obvious silk that hugged his body. Not only that, the velvet hood coming out of his coat to cover the striking red might also be a bit oblivious to the perfectly fine weather. The stranger had every right to gawk at Mingi but he kept it subtle, and for that, Mingi was thankful. He really didn't need words to spread for bandits to rob him clean. He might have to shop for more neutral clothing afterwards.

”Ahem.”

One barely successful attempt to sound disturbed from Mingi eventually drove the stranger away. There was a hunch that this would not be the last time they met each other though.

\-----

Once he recognized the faded footpath to the Song’s hut, Mingi increased the pace of his footsteps.

”Yah Mingi you’re here! Where is my dumpling?!”

”Woof!”

The two of them, no, correction, the three of them got along surprisingly well it was even scary. And by well it meant Mingi stole a bunch of parchments and ink for lyrics writing, Hongjoong nagged Mingi once every five minute to remind him how tasty dumplings were and that he should bring more next time. And by really well, it meant Yunho licking away the stress and freckles from Mingi’s face.

”Here your majesty..” The redhead sneered. He put a bag of dumplings on the table, setting aside his share and putting some in Yunho’s wooden trencher.

”Wait, you give me 5 dumplings but 6 for Yunho?!”

”Dogs are mainly carnivorous. Look at their canines. And instead you.. I don't even know elfs eat meat at all.”

”We do! But only cooked ones. We also regard nature with utmost significance so we refrain from taking too many.” Without any further chit chat, the elf swiped two dumplings in one go.

”... Said someone who wrote a poem about dumpling.”

”If I’m not mistaken, you’re the one who wrote love letter to orange juices in the first place. Why am I being the odd one here? Ah speaking of oranges I saw an orange tree on my way here, let me get us some.” With that, Hongjoong’s petite body was out of the way. That left Mingi and his favorite ball of fur. The said canine licked his plate clean, a trace of meat sauce lined the edge of his muzzle. Yes, ”his”, because Hongjoong went on a rage when Mingi regarded Yunho as ”it” and literally shoved Mingi’s face up Yunho’s balls, but when asked why he didn't name him until Mingi did, Hongjoong’s contemplating face made Mingi thought what a weird world he lived in.

”Come here, Yunho-yah!” Mingi patted his lap and Yunho leaped in no time. The redhead’s hand scratched over Yunho’s belly and the canine rolled over voluntarily, the tongue hanging from his mouth occasionally licked Mingi’s playful hands. Over the days, they had became an inseparable cuddle buddies, not even Hongjoong could break their cuddle session. The two of them fell on the wooden floor with Mingi on the bottom. Yunho giving him the skin care that he needed because no amount of those royal ointments could put glow on Mingi’s face as much as Yunho’s pleasant licks did.

”The dumplings are delicious aren't they, good boy?”

”Woof!!”

They played a bit more, forgetting Hongjoong that went away a tad too long for a short walk to crop some oranges. As the sun got skewed more and more due west, Mingi got this uneasiness crept up his throat. He stopped his cuddling session and left the sleeping Yunho on the floor. Mingi was a person who always trusted his guts, even though they cheated on him more than one occasions, so he took whatever tools he could weaponize and it just happened to be a broken rake. Hongjoong did say that the forest was rather safe but Mingi held the rake just for protection.

Mingi went across the hut’s fences, he brought his feet to wherever his lovely guts was telling him. He followed an intermittent cracking noise of tree branches. Fortunately, he had a pair of well trained ears with him. If there was someone with a better hearing than a hunter, it was a musician. He went deeper and deeper into the forest, he pulled his rake closer as he heard a suspicious rustling behind him. It was definitely someone, something, anything for God’s sake.

That was awful. The feeling of not knowing what was it behind him that seem to bore holes on his back with their presence, was really awful. In one way or another, Mingi was used to people throwing dagger at him with their stares. It might also be the sole reason how Mingi could live so carefree, because he built this impenetrable diamond fort along his fragile psyche. This so called fort however, stood completely self-reliant with his cowardice. But in rare cases like this, they held hands and almost determined to bring him down. Mingi’s palms were sweaty with how hard he clutched on the broken rake.

_Shit shit shit shit_

Mingi whimpered silently. Tears threaten to broke the dam in his eyes but he held them back.

_Rustle_

”Ugh!” one sudden crinckle made him jumped in surprise. The hide and seek didn't get any better.

”Joong.. It’s you, right? Hey stop this shit or I won't bring you anymore dumplings! I’m not joking! I will bring 100 dumplings for Yunho but 0 for you!” He shouted desperately. There was a big fat chance that this was just a grand scheme from Hongjoong to mock his cowardice so Mingi would gladly go with that. He set aside the wild thought that said it might be the witch who would skin him alive and use his human hide to cook a stupid-only God knew what- potion in her crock, the rest of his bloody, unrecognizable body would be chopped and given to her ancient familiar for offering while he would still be conscious because he was under some stupid spell and the witch was just a bitch for wanting him to suffer for nothing.

”Grrrrrrrrrrr” A growling sound, which clearly wasn't Hongjoong’s was heard. Oh God so it wasn't the witch. It was a bear? A lion? A giant lizard from the past? A werewolf? The witch’s pet that would feed on Mingi afterall? The thought didn't get better. The already feeble rake handle might break from the tension of Mingi’s hand.

Ah Yunho! Maybe it was Yunho! But why was he growling?

Mingi slapped his cheek and cleared his eyes. His vision suddenly got way clearer without those unnecessary layer of water. With more precise vision, Mingi turned his head to his right. There was this obvious sight of familiar ashen hair, Hongjoong. His back was on a tree. He looked cornered and his face was so serious, way more serious than the face he wore when they first met. Seeing the sight he was looking for, Mingi spontaneously raised his hand, waving at his friend. On the other side of the forest, Hongjoong glanced at his direction. His expression soften but still unwavering to whatever thing was in front of him. Was orange picking this stressful for an elf?

Mingi didn't understand, but he immediately canceled his intention to call him when he saw Hongjoong shaking his head, signaling him to not get any closer. The redhead pondered, assessing the ground, when he saw just what was in front of his friend, Mingi wanted to cry again. A canine, an obvious wolf, no, a warg almost twice Yunho’s size, had its eyes on Hongjoong.

Mingi was raised as a musician. He didn't have any idea on how to drive a gigantic wolf off his elven friend. The best he could do was standing still and keeping his breath. Now that was one thing proved useful from his musical education. Breath control. And being stupidly useless.

Hongjoong, upon realizing Mingi’s presence, took a step forward. The winter oranges he had on his hand we're big. They were about the size of two Hongjoong’s own fists. He threw one orange to his left, as far away as possible from him and Mingi. He was hoping it was good enough as a decoy, but the wolf didn't budge. Mingi could see Hongjoong cussed. The elf then took a really slow step to his right, he huffed his chest to appear as intimidating as possible to the warg. The said warg turned its head, following Hongjoong’s eyes at the same pace with the elf’s footsteps.

Mingi eyed Hongjoong’s stance against the warg. He instantly got the message Hongjoong sent him via his eye movements.

_Once I break free, run for your life._

Mingi nodded, panic painted his face white. It was as if the world just stopped altogether, everything was static and the slightest sound might break his ears. Without him even realizing, tears started to pool on his eyes again and by reflex he timidly took a step back.

_Rustle_

”Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr...”

Mingi’s worst fear just came true. The warg turned its eyes on Mingi and suddenly Hongjoong was no longer a focus. It took only several seconds for the wolf to come lunging at Mingi but in a sequence that seemed like an eternity to the both of them, time seemed to slow down. Within that time frame Hongjoong shouted ”The rake! Hit it!”, but Mingi screamed ”NO!NO!NO!” in horror, face wet with tears, and instead of swinging the rake with control, he threw it on the warg’s direction. As an alpha predator, it was clear for it which one was the prey. The rake easily missed and the warg jumped at the redhead.

Mingi could only see a blur. A blur of everything because his tears sabotaged his vision. His ears rang and all his other senses dulled in the mere grasp of danger. All he knew was that the warg never reached him, and then there was also a mix of black and brown. Once his senses regained their focus, albeit slowly, he could also hear angry howlers clashing in front of him. His initial reaction was that he wanted to fall on his butt and spent the time being afraid and pathetic and waited until someone came and rescue him, but his legs didn't give up on him. He kept his stance while witnessing what unveiled in front of him. There were two canines, the massive black one was the one he identified as their attacker, and the other one, sweet, and lovely, and cuddly Yunho baring fangs and claws. Even though they were clearly missmatched, Yunho still exchanged howler with the wolf twice his size.

”Go Mingi! Run!” From his right, Hongjoong came running, grabbing the rake laying on the ground while keeping his focus on the brawling canines. Mingi should have heard him and ran back to the hut like hell but he hung on, observing with his teary eyes when Hongjoong ambushed the wolf from a blind spot. He swung the rake with precise accuracy and enough power to tear the thick flesh and snap the rake in two. Red blotches splatered on the ground not enough to make the warg bleed to death but certainly enough to drove it away from him, from Yunho, from them.

The warg whimpered and scampered away. Hongjoong blew a sigh of relief while Mingi finally fell on his butt and busy being afraid and traumatized. The elf approached the still growling Yunho from his side. He understood that nearing an agitated Yunho from the back, or coming from the front while meeting his glowing golden eyes was akin to asking for a free ride to heaven. Hongjoong stretched one confident hand at Yunho to calm him down.

”Sssshhhhhh.. Good boy.. Calm down.. We’re okay. No one is hurt. I’m fine. Mingi’s fine.”

The fire on Yunho’s golden eyes subdued slowly. His fore legs gave up the tension it held so raucously before. There were traces of blood tainting his usually warm brown fur across his maw through his chest. Mingi couldn't fathom the thought that the Yunho he used to cuddle could brawl almost neck to neck with that huge ass beast.

”Woof!” Yunho’s bark went back to normal as he licked Hongjoong’s free hand. If Yunho’s feral instinct had loosened up, that meant danger was over. Hongjoong walked back to Mingi, extending an arm.

”Come on mr. Knight in shining armor, let’s go home.”

With that, the trio went back to the hut.

\---

”Holly shit Yunho you’re such a beast! How cool was that?!” At the hut, surrounded by the safety of human made fortresses, They sat in circle, looking back at how fatal the incident could be had Yunho not come to their rescue.

The forest might be relatively safe according to Hongjoong but things like this might happened right? The forest didn't have law, population control, weapon ban, and everything remotely similar to citizen protection so the question was how could Hongjoong survive all these time? Mingi was not familiar with how elves live but judging from how Hongjoong took on the beast earlier, he didn't looked like he had super strength nor any other super abilities.

When they first met, they talked briefly about how there was an elven community living in the forest but not long ago they migrated and somehow Hongjoong was left alone. Shortly after he met Yunho and lived together until they found the hut and Mingi. At that moment Hongjoong was so foreign that Mingi was scared he would agitate him by asking more questions. Like why did he ended up alone? Why no one knew that elves lived there? How the rumors about the forest being haunted by witches and beasts started? Were there really witches and beasts? The questions were endless.

”Leave him alone, Mingi. It’s been a while since Yunho went on a rage. Don't rub him the wrong way. Literally.” Hongjoong squeezed the bloody oranges into pulps and gulped them. Such a huge price to pay for Mingi’s beloved orange juice.

”Hey Hongjoong.. I’ve been thinking about this but how do you live all these time? Alone in the forest?” Mingi started.

”Hm.. I mainly stay in our little village. We have barricades and we plant things. So if I’m not bored or craving for meat, I manage. Yunho came one day and I could see he didn't possess any threat. The only threat he could be is that he’s so heavy and cuddly he could crush me in my sleep.” Hongjoong replied nonchalantly. He didn't seem to be wary speaking about his background this time so Mingi advanced.

”Are you really alone? In your village? No other elves are here?” He stopped, saving the more sensitive, more personal question for later after more story unveiled.

”Yeah. It sucks but at least I have Yunho. And you.” the elf smiled so blindingly it made Mingi felt like a jerk for trying to squeeze information juice out of him. But Mingi wanted to know more about him, about the foreign life that he didn't know existed so close to him until had bumped into one.

”Wow thank you I’m flattered!” he smiled back. ”So as the one company you have, aside from Yunho, can I ask you one question?” Mingi asked with such intensity that it made Hongjoong raised his eyebrows.

”Yeah of course.”

”Why are you here alone? Why don't you come with your kind?” And for once Mingi’s usually carefree voice dropped low, having way more weight that shouted seriousness but still appeared careful. Hongjoong sighed and put his mug down, indicating that this was going to be a long one.

”If we are not just escaped death, i’ll just sweet talk you but you just saved my life. I think I owe you one. Phew. Where should I start?” a pause ”So my community came from the north. We migrated here hundreds of years ago because our home were invaded by humans. You know, nordlings are not fond of our kind, the worst kind of ’not fond’. So we had to move as far away as possible and ended up here. Fast forward hundreds of years later, last harvest month we heard the news that a war broke in the north and our once hometown was deserted. We would like to go back there so we started the immigration plan. My parents are scouts so they went first. Long story short I missed the departure date for an outing, but because everyone was so busy with all the preparation, they left when I was away. To be honest I am waiting for the scout team to pick me here. It is too dangerous for me to travel that far alone. Haha sorry it’s not as dramatic as you think it would.” Hongjoong finished sheepishly.

  
Deep inside, Mingi huffed a sigh of relief though. So it was not because Hongjoong was a criminal that was banished from his community because he did unspeakable things even to his own kind. Or god forbid he was the reason why his whole community was gone. But Hongjoong was just a lost boy. Mingi should stop imagining stupid things, it could make his life shorter.

”So if someone comes to get you, you will go with them?” Mingi pried again, now with more contrition that he would lose a potential, if not, best friend.

”Well yeah. I can't live here alone forever...” The atmosphere suddenly got heavy. It was a stark contrast with their usual yodeling, shouting, mumble-singing dumpling parties.

”uuuuuungggg...” Yunho whimpered as if he could sense the hanging sentiment in the air. He definitely could though.

Each passing second brought more and more layer of discomfort until Hongjoong couldn't take it anymore.

”Argh! Oh my God we sucked being sensitive! You should go back soon, Mingi, it’s almost sunset.”

  
”Oh shit you’re right! Okay then see you later. I’ll bring you more dumplings than you could eat so you’ll forget I even asked you this!” Mingi grinned at Hongjoong, happy that he knew more about the elf yet sorry about his circumstances and what would come ahead. He dusted off his coat and bounced on his feet to the exit. Before he left, Mingi put a kiss on his hero’s nose.

  
”See you next time, Yunho.”

  
”Woof!”

\----

The walk back home felt longer than usual. How could it not? Mingi had been through a lot of things that day, from life threatening winter orange hunt, to the slightly melodramatic sharing session. Somehow he felt like him, Hongjoong, and Yunho, yes Yunho had elevated their level of understanding to be a little bit more intimate. And for that Mingi was thankful. He had every right to be a bit melancholic in his walk home while gazing at the sunset.

Once in a while Mingi whistled the newly written melody that he and Hongjoong worked on earlier that day just to accompany him. He had about another 2 kilometers until he reached the stable where he racked up his horse and no one seemed to be on his sight. Mingi was lonely. That was until he saw a figure in front of him walking in a pace much slower than his. Even with the orange glow the dusk provided him, Mingi could see the dark get up the stranger wore. The same jacket, and the same boots that he saw earlier that day. The (probably) butcher’s son.

Mingi eyed him from a safe distance until he realized that the man in front of him was not a slow walker, but instead he was limping. There were actually two options for him. Turned a blind eye and safely get back home or be the meddlesome guy that he was and tend his social bleeding heart again. The last time he did follow his instinct, he got himself a best friend, musical appreciation, and a cuddle buddy that could easily snap his limbs.

So he did just that.

”Do you need help?”

It seemed that Mingi’s sudden approach was too much for the man. He looked back in shock and stumbled on his own foot. The groan escaping his mouth was loud and mixed with irritation but a help was something he could definitely rely on so the stranger nodded slightly.

Mingi crouched down and offered his hand which the stranger took almost immediately. They did had no time to waste because the sun was almost done setting down and night time was never good for any traveller. Mingi slung the stranger’s hand around the back of his shoulder and propped the rest of him up. He didn't weighed that much for a man his size. So they both went straight forward, following the road.

”Thank you.” The stranger finally said and Mingi’s heart fluttered because he was a good person and doing something good for people was satisfying.

”No problem. Gotta help each other for our own good.” He chuckled. Once he took a good look on the stranger’s bad leg, he realized how bad the injury was. Whatever the cause, instead of internal damage, had torn his skin open and there were literally blood dripping from the carelessly wrapped wound. Mingi’s stomach lurched spontaneously because the most amount of blood he had ever seen was when his molar tooth got extracted and he could confidently said he was a bit traumatized.

”You are a good man... But I’m not.”

Wait what?

Mingi’s inside again, like a natural protection mechanism, braced itself for the worst case scenario. Like how did he get those wounds in the first place? It didn't looked like a self inflicted wound nor an accident. And he was supposed to be the butcher’s son so he was all too familiar with butchering, right? What was he doing in the northern forest? What if he was a serial killer and he hid his victims there but one unfortunate victim fought back and slashed his leg but he eventually managed to shut them up?

_Shit shit shit shit_

And Mingi was in the worst possible place because he couldn't run away. He could, but without assessing more of the situation, he couldn't leave the injured man alone. There were wild dogs and God forbid the warg that confronted him earlier that day could come back. Mingi might be a coward but he wasn't a jerk.

”Wh-what do you mean?” He squeaked. His previously confident tone weavered.

”Have you ever kill? Even in defense, have you ever kill?”

If only Mingi didn't see the literal tears and remorse in the man’s eyes, he would, without a second glance, dump him and run as fast as he could. The tip of the wind mill already appeared down south, safety was already in sight. He questioned himself, what could the man possibly want by confessing to Mingi, a mere stranger, but got no answer. However, the way the man bit his lower lip hard enough it actually drew blood just to contain his tears somehow moved Mingi. No cold blooded killer would confess to a mere stranger, in tears, with crushing remorse. Mingi remembered his uncle again. The sole reasons he travelled and not staying with noblemen asses was to hear stories and appreciated life. Mingi was sure there was a story, a reason, behind this man.

”... Do you want to talk about it?” Mingi looked at the man and he reacted with such puzzle on his face, bewildered and cautious as if asking himself ’is this man sane or just stupid?’. ”Well, you don't have to. The village is near already.” he shrugged while keeping himself steady amid the additional burden.

”You are a strange man.” The stranger paused. ”My name is Seonghwa. We might not meet again so just please hear me out. I don't have anyone to talk to.” once in a while he snorted, retracting his tears back.

”How about your family?” Mingi asked, more like a confirmation actually.

”My family is alive and healthy. My father, he is a butcher. My whole family deal with meat business. A good business.” Mingi suppressed his self high-five for his superior memory. ”But that’s exactly my problem is. I was taught how to cut meat my entire life. I can do well in the kitchen, and on the butcher’s table. But when I was old enough, my father brought me to a slaughter house. He told me to...” He stopped and for a moment it felt like pebbles blocked his esophagus restricting words not to come out. ”He told me to butcher a living pig. And I just couldn't.. But he made me watch. Those were Mr. Lee’s pigs. I used to go there and feed them when I was free and they were looking at me, trying to speak to me, or I don't know, like they were begging. After that I couldn't eat meat. And then...”

And then what? So far the story was only about a man with a heart too soft to do his job. Where was the killing part? Was he frustrated and lashed his anger on a human? Because he couldn't kill a pig he killed a human? What kind of twisted fucking story was this? Mingi almost couldn’t stop himself from interfering and asked him to continue where things went wrong.

”And then I met you today. You’re in that forest just now, right?” Mingi nodded, at least until today, the man, Park Seonghwa, was just a chicken hearted butcher’s son who was afraid to cut meat. ”I saw you in the forest, with your friend. You were trying to run from that wolf.”

”Ah! So you’re the one behind me then!” Something in Mingi clicked. The presence he felt in the forest was not the warg, or witches, or anything bad. It was just this man.

”Yeah that’s me. So after you and your friend drove it away, I went back but the wolf was suddenly in front of me.” Mingi cut him ”a warg” Seonghwa clapped back ”Whatever I dealt with cows and pigs I don't deal with wolves. But back to the story, I couldn't think and it attacked me. I...” Seonghwa pulled something out of his pocket. A knife. A huge fucking knife it was almost like an arming sword. The knife was covered in leather pouch but there was tint of blood. Mingi could guess what happened next. This man.. This man was pure. ”I killed it.” instead of regret, the horror of that day’s incident came to haunt Seonghwa.

”What?! You killed it? That huge ass warg?!” Mingi was eye to eye with the beast yet he couldn't even move one muscle, let alone killing one.

”It was hurt. You and your friend made it easier for me.” They finally set their foot on human civilization as they strolled under the wood gate. Seonghwa led them to the town’s medical hut. ”Ah that friend of yours.”

Mingi froze. He remembered damn well Hongjoong’s useless headpiece was gone somewhere along him getting cornered by the warg. Did Seonghwa see? The redhead only gulped his own saliva while waiting for Seonghwa’s following remark.

”Your friend, is she okay?”

_Pffffffftttt_

_She_

In all seriousness, Mingi again was under a constant protection from whatever deity that day and he had the responsibility to be thankful. However a ’ _she_ ’? Mingi wanted to just dropped Seonghwa on the spot and laughed at him.

”She... she’s fine. Yeah, we’re both fine.” If within the next minute Mingi didn't burst into a pool of messy laughter, he deserved a sack full of winter oranges because amidst the danger, they were dead delicious.

On the first sight, Hongjoong did seem petite and slender, pretty faced, almost like a woman, but once he knew him better, he would definitely lose an arm if he dared saying that on his face. Mingi refused getting intrigued by how relieved Seonghwa looked hearing Hongjoong’s condition. The two might never meet anyway so he’d rather not dwell on it too much.

”Glad to hear that.” Seonghwa chuckled. They were sitting on the first cot they found just outside of the medic hut, waiting for one of the medic to tend to him. ”Well, it's nice talking with you Mingi. I don't know if we would ever meet again so... Thank you so much for listening.”

”No worries. You are not a bad person. You saw how useless I am against that beast right? I don't have the right to tell you otherwise.” Mingi offered Seonghwa an ear to ear smile.

”But you’re not afraid to talk to a blood stained killer. I wouldn't call that cowardice.” Seonghwa responded by stretching his hand to shake as a proper introduction. ”May we meet again.”

Mingi actually wanted to spend more time with the butcher but it was night time already and Seonghwa lost so much blood, he might as well collapsed before the medic even got there. Once they saw one elderly man with a medic robe walked in their direction, Mingi raised from his seat, dusting invisible dust from the sterile fabric covering the cot.

That evening Mingi learned that there were people in the same shoe as him. Born into the wrong family, getting ridiculed, burdened by responsibility and the inability to conform. Not all of them was born a noble with servants, horses, and a huge ass manor.

”May we meet again.”

But all of them worth respect.

~continued


	3. Chapter 3

Giggle

Giggle

So much giggles

Mingi was giggling so much, too much even Valkyrie nickered in annoyance. The horse had to shoulder twice its, correction, her, normal cargo since her owner picked up yet another stray on the road. But the stray was not just another stray, he was a stray that was too strong he killed a warg with a butcher’s knife.

”Why are you laughing, Mingi?” Behind him, Seonghwa sprung his head forward, taking a view of the green Savannah with tints of yellow from the buds of wild moleyarrow. Usually the butcher’s boy had to travel on foot but now he was bathing in luxury he could never afford, getting on a horse. He was half way into the forest when Mingi came galloping from behind. His leg had more or less healed but he wouldn't mind a free ride.

”Nothing, just, I remember you said we might never meet again but it was like what? 20 moons ago?” Mingi chuckled but that was not the reason why he laughed. He was going to bring Seonghwa to the hut, introduce him to Hongjoong because Seonghwa was so worried about ”her”. He had been thinking that if Seonghwa frequented the forest, the probability of him bumping into Hongjoong (and his impractical headpiece) was considerably high. Therefore introduction was probably the best way to avoid the worst. Also he already consulted about Seonghwa to Hongjoong so it should be okay.

”Yeah, who knows. I have no idea you go to the forest often. If I may ask, why is that? Or is it because of your friend? So you two are...?” Seonghwa had a full on manner in display for a peasant and on the other hand, was pleasantly surprised when he heard Mingi’s shout when he was heading towards the forest. But the redhead had no idea that once he knew the man better, he talked too much sometimes.

”No! No we are not like that! We’re just friends!” Mingi cleared his throat, thinking of a better answer than ’to play music with an elf and big ass dog’. ”I do music but my father hates my music so I go to the forest to play. You might as well hate me if you hear me singing. Hahaha.” The joke seemed harmless and fun and Mingi was not lying so it might be the best excuse after all. ”How about you?”

”I have rabbits. My father said I should start with smaller animals so I get them out of the house.” Seonghwa responded. ”By the way, I’m really sorry for last time. I think I was being a bit dramatic.”

”Nah that’s fine. I love drama.” with lighter heart and mood, the two men continued chatting about each other while enjoying the spring breeze. Seonghwa learned that Mingi came from a well off musician family (which was kind of obvious), and Mingi learned more about different kinds of cow loins.

Both of them stopped talking when Valkyrie halted right in front of the hut. Mingi excused himself and asked Seonghwa to wait outside. He went inside to tell Hongjoong to dress up and pat Yunho’s head.

“Remember, you are-” ”an orphan boy who ’s waiting for a relative.” The elf cut Mingi’s statement, whining, but the later paid him no attention, too excited to see how things went after Seonghwa heard Hongjoong spoke and (would definitely) threw fits.

Mingi raised his eyebrows when he found Seonghwa dusting his clothes as if trying to make himself more presentable. ”Let’s go inside. Sorry for the mess. This hut no longer functions since the family has a proper warehouse in the city.”

_Creak_

Mingi and Seonghwa entered the cabin. Inside, Hongjoong (with his hat properly on) and Yunho sat side by side, ready to meet the new guy. Mingi actually never plotted a prolonged pretend though. The initial scenario was, after they came in, Hongjoong would introduce himself, Seonghwa would be shocked, Hongjoong would ask what was wrong, Seonghwa would ask why he was a boy, the proud Hongjoong would go berserk, Seonghwa would think this guy was nuts, and then they would break up and never crossed path again.

If only he knew.

”Hey, this is Seonghwa, the man I told you before!” But the moment Mingi expected Hongjoong to take the wheel and introduce himself never came. The elf looked at Seonghwa’s face and folded his legs in front of his chest, making him appeared smaller than he already did. Mingi’s eyebrow raised at that because in contrary with his image, Hongjoong was never a shy guy. Even with lots of extra height and vigor, most of the time Mingi felt like Hongjoong was the one who’s in charge.

”Hello, I’m Seonghwa. Nice to meet you.” Wait, was that Mingi being over observant or Seonghwa was being extremely patronizing? His whole tone changed into something that made Mingi’s stomach lurched because it was the exact note he used when he had to converse with noblewomen. Seonghwa was all smile and sheepish bows. Mingi wished he wasn't flirting.

Hongjoong only nodded and said nothing else. It was weird. Something was definitely off. The elf moved slowly to the back of Mingi’s broad self, almost hiding. Albeit a little bit awkward, Seonghwa turned out to be understanding. He nodded back and took a seat in front of Mingi and Hongjoong. The man straightened his posture before deciding to play with the yawning furball on the floor.

”He-Seongwha is a butcher. You cook for yourself, right? You can learn from him. Go and talk to him.” On the surface, it might look like Mingi nudging Hongjoong lightly by his elbow, but in truth, they were pushing each other in full strength but Mingi still couldn't guess what this was all about. Hongjoong shook his head in defense.

”No that’s fine. Take your time. I’m a stranger after all. Hey can I feed the dog? I bring brisket from leftover pork chop.” Mingi could hear disappointment leaking through Seonghwa’s words but it couldn't be helped. Whatever was going on with Hongjoong, Seonghwa was already there so they had to endure at least that day.

”Can he?” Mingi asked the self combating Hongjoong. The elf nodded slightly and suddenly Seonghwa was transparent again. An unsuspecting smile bloomed on his face, followed by tints of pink on his ears.

Mingi was left with nothing but a muted elf, a misbehaved butcher, and a stolen favorite furball. So he dragged his legs to the back of the hut to fish out a laying lute. Maybe music would losen things up a bit because he could sense things only went downhill when Seonghwa said things like ”What is your name? You are really pretty.” in Mingi’s absence. He was clearly flirting. That playboy.

When he decided that his presence was necessary, Mingi took a quick step back to the main room but found Hongjoong already made his way to the door, leaving the dejected Seonghwa with Yunho.

”Hey wait!” The redhead followed him through the slammed door. Outside where they were free of the thing that seemed to make Hongjoong uncomfortable, the two took a turn, hidden behind the beggatrick bushes that once forced them to meet each other. ”Hey what is wrong with you? I thought we already talked about him?!”

”We did! It’s just... Anyone but him.”

”What is wrong with him? He’s such a nice guy.”

”I.. Urgh.. Do you know he keeps rabbits here?” Hongjoong scratched his head over the thin piece of headdress.

”I just heard that. Wait, how do you know??”

”BECAUSE, Mingi... I helped myself a rabbit stew last night! Don't you see my face is glowing?!” Hongjoong reached for his own set of happy cheeks, lips slightly reddening to show the amount of vitality he held in that petite body.

”You what?!” Horror plastered on Mingi’s widening eyes. ”God he risks his relationship with his family for those rabbits!!”

”How the fuck should I know?! As far as my protein deprived arse concerned, he’s just a weirdo who came again and again and spent the day talking with his rabbits!” The shorter of the two bit on his nails. If only his stomach could bear one more day without animal protein, he could meet this new guy with confidence. But then which one was more critical? His stomach? Or the new guy he didn't even know... Yet?

”I’m warning you, Senghwa killed the warg for targeting his rabbits after it almost butchered us last time. I don't know about you but if I were you I wouldn't act suspicious.” Mingi slapped his forehead in response of Hongjoong’s sulky pout.

”But.. I can't lie...” Hongjoong’s voice was so soft it was almost like a whisper.

”What?”

”I can't lie! Okay? One time my mom asked me where was my dad and I said he went scouting with Jennie! My father came back fuming and asked me what did I told mom and I said I said you went scouting with Jennie! I got grounded for two months! I could’ve stopped at ’scouting’ but I didn't!” Hongjoong’s sudden babble slightly surprised Mingi as he pulled his head back an inch.

”Is Jennie young?”

”Yes.”

”And pretty?”

”Very.”

”You’re stupid.”

”I know and that’s why I kept silent! It’ll be over once I open my mouth.” Hongjoong kicked a stray stem and stomped on a withering blossom on the ground.

”Is that an elf thing?”

”It’s a Hongjoong thing.”

From inside the hut, Yunho’s bark was heard. Once in a while, they could also hear Seonghwa’s laugh. Yunho could see the best in men, so if Yunho was fine and happy, the man must be someone trustworthy. Only sometimes the scariest psychopath was the most silent of them all.

The two took precautions before entering the once docile wooden hut. Ones that involved no speaking and kept hiding behind Mingi.

”Hey. I’m sorry I think I gave the dog too much meat.” Seonghwa sat in front of the idle fireplace with Yunho’s head resting on his lap.

”No, th-that’s fine. And his name is Yunho, he’s a male obviously.” Mingi cleared his throat and let Hongjoong tagged behind him, his head hung low, hand catching on Mingi’s coat.

”Ah, and for you, I found this on my way here. I don't have a sister so I think you might like this.” The butcher probed on his leather bag, taking out a small silver accessory and shoved it on Hongjoong’s face. The later flinched at first but he couldn't hide the glint on his eyes when he saw the thing on Seonghwa’s hand.

It was a brooch, nothing fancy, silver polished but covered with dirt and countless finger prints they completely eradicated the shiny effect the coating once had. The brooch’s design was rather simple, round with small dagger right in the middle of the curve. There were details carved carefully with black obsidian like ornaments on one of the sides. The brooch was most definitely old but it only emphasised how antique it appeared.

Hongjoong surprised himself as he found his hand halfway of reaching it. He halted and retracted his half outstretched hand. Immediately, the elf shook his head, he couldn't take anymore things from this guy than he already had, no matter how he fancied little treasure and accessories to be added into his humble collection. No matter how his stupid little treasure hunt was the one that kept him in the forest alone in the first place.

”Is there something wrong? Really, it’s fine. I found it on the street, it's not even mine.” Seonghwa pushed the brooch further to Hongjoong, and Hongjoong withered away even further, asking him mentally to stop the torture because Seonghwa’s face was really bright with all those awkward smiles and glimmer.

Mingi was about to meddle as the one who got pushed from both sides when he realized he missed something important. But Seonghwa beated him to be the first to break the news to Hongjoong.

”I’m sure this brooch suits a pretty girl like you the best.”

The world seemed to stop for a while. Mingi comically bit his fingers, having something inside him screamed ’this is all your fault!’. On his back, Hongjoong completely stopped being small and fidgety. He suddenly stood up as tall as he could, chest puffed like that day he met the wolf in the forest. Seonghwa was pretty much confused.

”I’m a what?” Hongjoong’s usually higher pitched voice doubled in bass, and Mingi wanted to laugh if only he wasn't the one who could actually dodged them the whole projectile in the first place.

Seonghwa tilted his head in confusion. ”A pretty... Wait.. You’re not a girl??” his face folded, his voice raised, and he almost kept his eyes closed as Hongjoong towered over him and grabbed his shirt.

”Does this sound, or look like a girl to you?” Hongjoong’s words were packed with menace, stabbing Seonghwa’s baffled mind repeatedly because once he saw the creature in front of him clearer, he still looked pretty but his bone structure was too strong for a girl. His nose, which had the perfect slope, was rough edged. The nervous, almost rose colored lips now opened slightly in utter annoyance. The glistening hazelnut eyes and falling pale hair still tricked Seonghwa into believing a guy would be too pretty to own them, but he was pretty well aware that the man before him could be a tad too masculine for a girl.

”But Mingi said you’re-”

”I’ve never said anything about him not being a boy though. But guys, ahem, we can settle this the civil way. Amen.”

”No. let’s go outside, we settle this in the manliest way possible.” Hongjoong rolled the sleeve of his tunic top, revealing a pair of hands that was clearly too lanky yet too muscular for a girl’s. Seonghwa was then convinced.

”Well, I’m sorry then, I didn't know a man can be that pretty!” In Seonghwa’s defense, he hadn't really seen anyone remotely his age that caught his attention. The noble ladies might be, but peasants didn't really have the best genes so when he saw Hongjoong glowing so brilliantly under the sunlight, he couldn't help but falling.

”If a girl can be unkept, men can be pretty too! Why the fuck it’s not a concept to you?! That’s exactly why you fucking run away and talk with rabbits because your concept on humanity sucks! It’s solely your own fault that rabbit of yours was on my pan!”

“YAAH! YAAH GUYS WHY DONT WE SING TOGETHER LIKE ~in the forest the dragon queen sings and~”

“You what??!!”

Mingi’s lute resonated dully, fallen in deaf ears. Only Yunho barked in response, wagging his tail to appreciate the impromptu note which seemed to only worsen the already disastrous air.

Hongjoong gulped down. He’d done it again, the Hongjoong thing. But he’s equally in a rage now. Sure, Hongjoong’s stupid pride might not be comparable with Seonghwa’s lost but he needed more time to let the resentment died down.

”I.. I thought you’re just a weirdo. And it’s been almost a month since I eat meat. I.. I’m sorry.” It was almost like the moments where the ending unfolded in a play, the curtain dropped, the music popped, silly effects actually gave depth into the makeshift moment but only it was real this time. The glare on Seonghwa’s widened eyes bore holes on Hongjoong’s, looking like he was ready to not believing what he had just heard. In front of him, Hongjoong made his stance against the trembling man, the guilt materialized into genuine apology that was clearly plastered on his face.

”Good lord how do we get into this mess? Let me put this together. So Seonghwa saw us from a distance and thought that Hongjoong’s a lass. And yeah his name is Hongjoong. And then I helped the hurt Seonghwa and we became friends. In the mean time Hongjoong who lives alone in the forest saw a defenseless rabbit and decided to have meat. By that time he didn't know that I would introduce the two of you. So how about an eye for an eye and we just put this whole misunderstanding behind us and move on?”

”Move on?? We’re talking about a life here! And you’re telling me a life lost is equal to being mistaken for a girl from what? A bunch of distance away? By the way they’re not defenseless. I built them fences!” Two fists curled on his side. Seonghwa, the non confrontational guy, was apparently not backing down easy.

”Defense? If anything it looks like you’re putting them in a plate and telling me to have dinner. Even children know the best defense for rabbits are their long ears and strong legs.” Mingi could almost hear Hongjoong pouted. The elf curled to his side again, sulking for a reason Mingi knew too damn well because Hongjoong was all about pride.

”So what do you expect me to do? Feed them to the wolves??”

”What I’m trying to say is-”

”Stop, stop it.” The redhead finally meddled. ”This hut isn't used anymore. Seonghwa you can take your rabbits here. And Hongjoong you practically live here, you might as well take care of the rabbits while he’s gone.” An imaginary version of Mingi begged the other two to just accept his offer because he was partly to blame too. ”But I...”, ”Joong, you owe him.” But really, no matter how cute Hongjoong looked, small and sullen, he didn't have the right to sulk. Eaten rabbit couldn't get back to life.

~Continued


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be more idol cameos incoming!  
> I apologize beforehand if I ended up butchering other idol’s character 🙏
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

Party time. A ballroom dance was held at the castle to celebrate the prince’s coming of age. It was time for Mingi to party too, but he had to endure at least an hour or so for an informal attendance check by his father’s assistant. The Song family was relatively flexible. They let everyone went separately if they wanted. Mingi couldn't be more thankful for that. He racked Valkyrie’s halter up to the guest’s stable. Not for long though. Valkyrie didn't like to be tied for too long.

Inside, the castle was packed with lords and ladies and their best clothed assistants. Mingi shook hands with one person after another. One more lord and his hand would fall off, one more lady and his lips would burst bloody curses. Since he was capable enough to hold conversations, Mingi’s father took him to parties only to let him stray around the festivity. Not only once that Mingi had to walk his way back because his father forgot he was even there. Parties after parties then confirmed Mingi’s suspicion that the sole reason of his questionable existence in parties was only to assure people that the great Song didn't abandon his son no matter how useless he is.

”Mingi, Mingi come here!”

Did Mingi’s ears finally gave up due to the high profile laughter that only seemed to get even higher to match their owner’s ego and pride? Or was it his father calling for his meaningless self instead of kissing golden coated asses?

”Son, i’m searching for you everywhere. Come here, I want you to meet someone.” There was a small breath caught in his throat signaling that the senior Song spent a considerable effort to look for his usually nonexistent firstborn. But ’Son, i’m searching for you everywhere. Come here, I want you to meet someone’ was frightening. Probably tomorrow would rain pigs.

”Huh? Me?” Before Mingi could respond otherwise, a figure appeared behind his father. She was a very beautiful lady. Her raven hair, even with minimalist golden ornament, cascading gracefully down her back, to her waist. She pulled off a simple khaki colored gown way better than those overdressed ladies and countesses.

”Please meet Lady Solar. She is a very fine musician. I think you two will do great. Now I have to go and play The Prince a song or two. Please excuse me, Son, Lady Solar..” There were tons of things Mingi could nitpick from his father’s very brief introduction. First of all, typically the first word coming from his father when he talked about a person was their family name, or their status. Second, rather than letting people know that he had a son named Mingi, he would rather cut his thumbs, so introducing him to a lady? Maybe later after doomsday. Third, music and Mingi were never in the same context in the eye of his father. Fourth, son? Like SON???

Suddenly, Mingi’s hundreds other assertions got swiped by the look on Lady Solar’s face. His father was gone without a trace. So what should he do with this lady? Should he keep his cool? Sweet talking her like there was no tomorrow? Crack a joke? Sing her one badly written trash-song?

”Hi, you can call me Solar. You are...” Again, Mingi’s cowardice got adulterated right in front of his eyes. To be shoved a hand to shake twice in a week and couldn't even shake it without getting flustered wounded him somehow.

”Ah, Mingi. Song Mingi. Just call me Mingi.”

They shook hands. Lady Solar’s hand was soft but very firm, as if shaking a war general’s who used camellia oil and depilatory cream.

”Okay Lord Mingi.” She smiled. Her smile was blinding.

”Oh yeah, yeah. Lady Solar, my father said that you are a musician. Care to tell me what kind of music do you do?” He managed to speak after literally clearing his throat 5 times. He could hear Lady Solar chuckled slightly at his antique.

”I mainly sing. I do ballads and sometimes I sing chants for the churches too.” She paused. ”How about you?”

“I, erm.. I love percussion.” Mingi pondered on the thought. He could easily say he played the harp, violin, even mandoline, but the eagerness on his companion’s eyes cornered him to give her real - not best - answer. It had been a while, aside from Hongjoong, that he talked to people with genuine interest in music who didn't look down on him. The other Songs were on the stage, bringing symphony and grace to each of the guests’ table. One look at the remaining red head on the dance floor and everyone could more or less guess what an outcast Mingi was. To his surprise, however, Lady Solar’s smile only got wider.

”I know an inn in town that hosted a percussion play regularly. Do you watch it?” The lady sipped her beverage, playing with her index fingers while waiting for Mingi to answer.

”The nine fox inn? My father told me not to. He said that’s not music. Real music requires comprehensive arrangement. By that logic, only the Songs do music, but not everyone are kings, right?” Mingi clicked his tongue and Lady Solar winced in unison. ”Speaking of kings I haven't seen His Majesty around since the party started.”

”I heard that His Majesty is not feeling well.” Lady Solar tapped on her wooden glass three times, as if something was bothering her. Seeing the impatient taps, Mingi’ eyebrows twitched in confusion, but the question in his head was soon answered by Lady Solar’s confession. ”You know, you’re a decent young man.. I think I owe you the truth.” She inhaled a lungful of oxygen before continuing her statement. ”To make this less suspicious, do you care to ask me for a dance?” Mingi gasped at how stupid he was for not realizing that they were in everyone’s way. The skittish waltz guided the guests to twirl and swing in pairs and they were not happy at the dumb block in the middle of the ball. Good thing Mingi still remembered basic manner so he bowed 90 degrees with left hand on the chest, and right hand asking for the lady’s.

It had been a while since Mingi waltzed a lady from the Kang household 10 years ago, when his father thought Mingi’s less enthusiastic string play and vocal disaster was just a phase. His movement was so rusty it might affect Lady Solar’s motion because he found their feet stepping on each other more than once.

”Truthfully, I am not used to royal parties. My father is just a book store owner near the Hierarch Square, so please pardon my roughness.” Mingi squinted his eyes. She was not a noble? So what was she doing here at the royal party? And why did his father introduce her to him? ”Lord Mingi, you look so young. How old are you?” The lady’s honey voice broke Mingi’s train of thought.

”I am going to be 20.” Lady Solar’s eyes widen suddenly at Mingi’s answer as if he couldn't be anywhere remotely close to 20 years old. Both musicians still swung their body along with the rhythm of the song. It was pretty clear that after a few missteps, the Lady was getting way better, proving the musical designation Mingi’s father granted her.

”Oh my God, uncle Song, what was he thinking?!” Before the both of them could talk over the obvious fault in their conversation, the old Song interfered while taking Lady Solar away from Mingi without any explanation. The dumbfounded Mingi could only stare in stupid as his father dragged the Lady and gave her the stage. Lady Solar seemed nervous at the start but once the chamber orchestra transitioned from quick waltz to ballad, her facial expression softened. She opened her mouth.

Shortly after, a powerful yet soothing verse filled the hall. There was this shock the lady’s vocal had that sent shiver down Mingi’s spine. It was almost otherworldly as she progressed towards the climax, gaining more traction with the lustrous harmony of string instruments and woodwinds. Some people went on dancing and kept being ignorant, other more sensitive people stopped to appreciate the art, some looked up to see who the owner of the wonderful voice was, while Mingi’s brain went on a short break from the godly harmonization to analyzing the purpose of this introduction. That greedy old fart wanted the exceptional musical talent to be his, to be one of the Songs. But she was a nobody. Her father owned a bookstore without any remarkable sale and that was all. Yet he wouldn't let such talent go to waste. There was only one way for Lady Solar to be a part of the Songs, and Mingi’s father for sure preferred his excellent sons to be wed to royalties. And then there was Mingi. And then everything clicked.

Mingi rushed out to the stable without thinking twice.

\----

The more Mingi spent time with Hongjoong and Seonghwa, the more he discerned that they were polar opposite. Hongjoong, petite, lanky, made everyone wanted to protect him on the first sight, yet outspoken, tough, logical, and would take any necessary action without hesitation. On the other side, Seonghwa, tall, lean yet muscular, strong, manly, sensitive, over calculating, detail oriented, would cry if something happened to his rabbits. The worst kind of combination especially when their first impression of each other was over the top awful.

Prior to Seonghwa’s first visit to the hut, things were considerably in order. Hongjoong and Yunho took good care of each other and the piling dust receded little by little, reflecting the touch of life that resuscitated the once abandoned cabin. Not over a week later, 6 extra little balls of vivacity shifted the group dynamics into a continuous blast of hurricane.

With Seonghwa only came three times a week and Hongjoong not being the best care taker in the world, Mingi wouldn't be lying when he said the hut felt like a whole new world. A world where little pellets of rabbit shit stared at him from every corner of the room. Yunho, Mingi’s little angel seemed like he was gaining extra life force, rolling and fooling around with his new little friends.

Seonghwa’s biggest worry, apparently, was not in the form of a 60 kg mass of muscle, fur, and fang. The biggest threat to his little family was laying on the hammock, snoring while scratching his exposed tummy. So much for the energetic pretty tomboy Seonghwa thought he laid his eyes upon. Even his dog took care of the rabbits better than him.

Mingi racked Valkyrie on her stall and went inside the hut, ready to breathe in the noise pollution that was guaranteed to happen whenever Hongjoong and Seonghwa were in the same place. To be honest, he wished that day their frequent banter would go for a holiday because for once Mingi almost couldn't tolerate any more negativity than he already contained.

Running away from the royal ball with his future nearly locked down the dungeon of arranged marriage, the redhead fumed, banging the door open, expecting Yunho to jump and shower him with wet licks. That was all Mingi needed for the day. Wet licks. His daily dose of Yunholation.

”Yunho baby~, Daddy’s got dumplings for you~ Come here~”

A second passed, which was too long considering Yunho’s supersonic Mingi-radar. Mingi scanned the room, finding Hongjoong laying asleep on his favorite hammock, rabbits minding their own businesses (which included humping on each other), and then instead of Yunho wagging his tail like the good boy that he was, there sat a man.

Now, Mingi never considered himself a romantic. Yes he loved romance, especially those involving adventure, camaraderie, and eternal bonds. But things like feeling the world stopped moving when he met someone and had a sudden realization that they were bounded by fate, no, Mingi was not that kind of guy. But he did feel like the world stopped moving, or maybe because the world did stop moving for him to take more oxygen to his lungs.

The man sat there, unfamiliar, and awfully comfortable in Mingi’s hut. He had this weird hair color, and this came from one of the ”rubies” who hosted an elf in his house. The idle world gave him a chance to look, to observe, how the dark brown melted so naturally yet maintained a decisive contrast with lighter hazelnut and pale golden. Mingi had never met anyone with tri-colored hair before. But the thing that sent him to a collected shock was not his weird hair color, not his exceptionally gorgeous face, not his brilliant smile, and not his well toned chest and overall generously built body. Well, maybe that, because Mingi could see it clearly, too unnecessarily clear in a matter of fact. Because the anonymous hearthrob had nothing to cover him from Mingi’s big bulged eyes.

”Y.. You.. You..”

”Mingi!”

As if the world had not done a great job keeping itself still for the moment, it than spun so fast that Mingi didn't even have time to react when the man, exposed and all, plunged himself on to him, calling his name, and while maintaining an impossibly glittering eyes, he brought his head closer to Mingi’s. The latter, with eyes still widen in shock, took a short step back, but couldn't do any bigger move than little quivers when the stranger, apparently bigger than Mingi himself, did something unimaginable. They were eyes on eyes, nose on nose, and with the slightest tug of the stranger’s hands around Mingi’s shoulder, Mingi felt something wet planted on his lips. This guy was licking his lips. Like placing his tongue in the middle of Mingi’s chin and dragged it upwards in one swift yet astute lick. Across his lips up to the tip of his nose.

Mingi was almost 20. Yes he’s one of the noble but it didn't mean that he didn't sneak out fooling around. He was young, attractive, and adventurous. He had kissed girls, one or two, and did something more, but he definitely had never felt violated like that.

”YAH PERVEEEERT!!!!” It was a definitely late reaction from Mingi, prompting himself to jump. The unknown guy took a step back. His once purely optimistic face was no more. His eyes bulged wider than Mingi’s, mouth opened agape, an expression of horror was plastered on his face before he took a step backwards and decided to flee the hut.

”OH HOLLY SHIT A PERVERT?! WHERE IS IT?!!” The way Hongjoong rolled and fell off of his hammock was a bit comical. If Mingi was not in such a trauma, he would laugh and brought up the whole thing everyday just to piss off the elf. But Hongjoong with his eyes barely opened and whatnot, grabbed the closest weapon-esque thing, ready to whack degenerates with a broom stick. ”WHERE WHERE WHERE IS THE PERVERT?!”

Mingi remembered stories about molestation in his village and he always thought why did those girls not resisting. He kind of understood why then. Even him, a perfectly capable man, could barely lift a finger when panic struck him down. This was different than facing a dangerous beast. Mingi might have a chance with perverts. But if his cowardice even worked with a harmless (the pervert was naked and had no weapon with him) man, he had to reevaluate his whole life.

”He.. He’s gone..” the redhead slumped down, feeling his leg gave up on him after his sudden meltdown.

”Are you okay Mingi? Did he do anything to you? Holy mother of God how did he even get here?!” Keeping the broom stick on his hand as a protection, Hongjoong rushed to Mingi’s side. His delicate hand patted the red of Mingi’s hair to calm him down and Mingi had no reason to not give up to the gentle touch. He felt warm and safe under Hongjoong’s existence. He then snuggled further for mental protection. Mingi had thought about this for a while, but Hongjoong had that quality in him. He brought a sense of security to people and gave them impressions that everything was under control. The exact opposite of the insecure and cowardice Mingi. And he smelled like pine and droplets of rain in the morning.

”Good afternoon!” A low voice from the opened door broke the silence as a familiar butcher stepped inside. He jumped a step back when he found Mingi and Hongjoong sitting down in each other’s hand right in front of the door. ”Oh my God you two! So it is true you two are...!”

”Shut up Seonghwa! It’s not like that!” The two finally broke apart. Hongjoong trying to put words together while Mingi worked on collecting his scattered guts together again. ”There’s a pervert. He did something to Mingi. I was just calming him down.”

”A pervert?! Gosh are you okay Mingi??” Seonghwa immediately crouched down. His bag clattered on the ground.

”Yeah I’m fine.. He ran before he did anything else.”

”What did he do to you?!” that was a question Hongjoong didn't dare ask. Seonghwa cupped Mingi’s face to look for anything wrong, a scar maybe, or a bruise. But Mingi had nothing but a wet face and he was ashamed to say that. He just shook his head. He was traumatized and embarrassed. Mingi was a proud coward, but this time, the shame was overwhelming.

”Yah that’s fine you don't have to say it.” The raven let go a sigh of relief knowing that nothing bad happened to his friend. It was already weird enough that some weirdo even dared doing something remotely perverted to a man as big as Mingi. But it was even weirder that it happened inside the house. Seonghwa scanned the whole cabin to see if something went wrong, if there was a broken window or something and the sick degenerate broke himself in. But there was nothing wrong. It was their usual base, old and musky, until he laid his eyes on Hongjoong. ”And you’re fine??”

”Hey what the fuck do you mean, Seonghwa?” At any given time, the question would appear considerate instead of mocking, reassuring instead of doubting.

”He.. He attacked Mingi but not you? Wait you...” there were folds between Seonghwa’s nasal bridge, connecting both of his eye brows and his curious mind. Something was not right. He squinted his eyes to see clearer and assessed the whole situation with more composure. There was nothing wrong with the hut, Mingi looked fine too, thank God. But there was something definitely off about Hongjoong. From how puffy he appeared and how his light colored hair doubled in volume, Seonghwa could more or less guess that he jumped right from one of his dearest nap to rush to Mingi’s side. The still swaying hammock answered his suspicion and it finally got to him why Hongjoong seemed different. He didn't have that cute, Seonghwa hated to say anything cute about Hongjoong but he couldn't lie to himself, headpiece that was always covering his head.

The man’s hair was about his neck length. The normal Hongjoong usually had stray hair falling out of his headpiece, thus gave Seonghwa an idea of how his hair was lightly colored, but when it was in full display, it kind of blew the poor butcher’s mind how dazzling the cocky bastard looked with that glowing pale golden bristle. But again it was not how godly Hongjoong appeared that day, although pretty distracting, that made Seonghwa almost lost his cool in front of his sworn enemy. It was something on the side of his head. Even with his glorious hair covering most of it, it couldn't hide those pointy edges from peeking out.

”You... What the hell are you?!” Seonghwa took a step back, almost knocking Mingi in the process and the two got back to him with equally widening eyes. Hongjoong’s hand travelled up only to find his headpiece went missing again, probably got knocked down along with himself from his hammock.

”I.. I can explain. You know, Hongjoong used to be with the circus and he did this to me too when we first met haha. Silly guy, right?” Sweat rushed through Mingi’s pores. He was once in Seonghwa’s shoes and he could assure anyone that it wasn't a really pleasant feeling knowing something so mystically foreign was lurking within the same space with him. Maybe Seonghwa felt that way too and maybe he just needed time, but Mingi opted for a safer bet. Hongjoong might have to leave the hut once they got away from Seonghwa.

”No. No. I’ve known it from the start he’s not normal. Nothing about him speaks ordinary! That hair, that figure, those eyes?! You’re not human aren't you Hongjoong?!” Seonghwa’s voice risen, his right hand moved slowly to the opening of his little pouch.

On the other hand, Hongjoong knew it was pointless to lie to Seonghwa. The look on Seonghwa’s eyes told him that he was not going to accept bullshit so the elf proceeded with a confession. ”Okay, relax Seonghwa.. I’m not a human. I’m an elf. And I mean no harm. That rabbit of yours, kyrios, was purely my fault for not being able to hunt and choosing the easy way. I should’ve never done that..” He put his hand in the air to show his will to cooperate, a habit he pulled off everytime he met a human.

”What the fuck an elf?! So the story of elves ruling the northern forest is right?! No shit!”

”Listen Seonghwa, I know it’s almost too much to take but I can assure you Hongjoong doesn't mean any harm. He just loves music, okay? We all love music.” Mingi lowered his anxiety level to not appear equally miserable to Seonghwa, whom by now held his butcher’s knife firmly in defense.

”Music?! Don't you understand Mingi elves use music to enchant, to control people! And they will take over the whole country! He too will take advantage of us and then finish us when we’re no longer of any use to him! I have to warn my village-”

”Seonghwa!! Stop!! What do you know about Hongjoong?! If you think you’re a human, use your brain, use your heart!” Both Hongjoong and Seonghwa froze. It was the first time Mingi ever raised his voice in such serious manner. Mingi was never a confrontational guy, but when he heard Seonghwa bad mouthing Hongjoong without any base evidence what so ever, the blood in him boiled. ”If he’s that bad of a guy, he would’ve knocked me out when we first met! He wouldn't risk his live to save me! He would eat all of your rabbits and without you even knowinh! He wouldn't be here cleaning rabbit shit and get them food everyday! Just.. Just lower your knife and let's sit down, okay?!!” Once he finished his oration, Mingi panted. All three of them panted, looking at each other.

”You know what, Seonghwa? The only thing I want right now is to get out of here. The elves are the last thing you have to worry. If you want proof I can give you one.” Hongjoong lowered his gaze from Seonghwa, to his cutched hand. He had been living with them for some time and he thought it was time to back his story with physical assurance, especially to Mingi.

\----

”Holly shit you’re not kidding.” Mingi stared, mouth agape, at the unfolding sight before him. When Hongjoong first said about him and his ’small’ community of elves, Mingi thought about a conceivable number under how many his hands and feet could count. Also considering they lived that deep inside the forest, their construction would be mainly wooden based, straw, and probably other natural forest-ish material, and modest.

Blatantly betraying Mingi’s picturesque thought, in front of the three of them stood a gate, made of carved stones and connected by steel banister. That alone had casted shadow on Seonghwa’s humble village. Hongjoong effortlessly pushed the gate open after unhinging several bolts on the steel rod. While they walked through the gravel paved ground, Mingi jumped to the slight rustle when a stray crow flew above him.

“This used to be the place where we hold events together. Meetings, parties, prayers.” They stopped for a while in front of a gazebo with graciously carved wooden table and chairs in the middle. The building was bordered on three sides while the entrance was left bare, probably to ensure the rest of the community that nothing was obscured. There were potteries decorated each sides with withering flowers in it, making the empty spaces seemed more occupied, more naturally innate.

The way Hongjoong picked the withering branches and put them in his hand before throwing them away sent chill down Mingi’s spine. He looked at how familiar Hongjoong was with replacing the dead flower with fresh one, white and brilliant arenaria buds they picked on the way there.

”Is that some kind of a symbol? The flower?” Mingi squeaked.

”It’s too dangerous for me to stay here alone. This place is hefty, no way we could hide from strays forever so we have layers of perimeters and use diversion everytime humans get close.”

”So you choose to stay in the hut?”

”Yeah. And the flower is for in case my parents come here, they’ll know i’m around somewhere.” The elf paused, looking down uncomfortable. ”Maybe I am just using you.” He said, but rather than an answer to Seonghwa’s accusation, it sounded more like a question from Hongjoong to himself.

Mingi nodded at Hongjoong in sympathy. He then got inside the gazebo to marvel at the beautifully crafted pottery and the brassy, almost golden fireplace. One thing to note, that none of the structure was made of luxurious material, unlike the royal palace in Mingi’s city where gold, satin, and silver painted the whole establishment with extravagance. They only used woods, concrete, rocks, and steel, but the level of their craftmanship was way over the top.

The redhead swung his head only to find Seonghwa standing at the entrance, brows squinted and mouth sewn shut. He had probably realized that if a community this advanced was about to attack his ran down village, it would be over in seconds. But his shoddy and uncivilized village was still standing strong and might still be standing for the next hundreds of years thanks to the villagers’ stubbornness.

”Can I look around some more?” Mingi’s low voice vibrated through the abandoned civilization’s silence. It was getting clearer and clearer how the community packed everything carefully down to the last drop of water they had. There were barrels outside the sturdy complex of houses with no traces of it's content’s where about. They were neatly closed too. It didn't seem that they leave in a hurry or under any pressure.

”Suit yourself. No one is here. They took valuables with them too.” Hongjoong muttered while draining the pots from leftover rain last night. Mingi took that with enthusiasm because he didn't really need to meet other elves, nor looting for their valuables. The bigger deal for the redhead was the intricacy of the whole hamlet and the mesmerizing art crafted into each structure as if they were trying to tell him a story.

As Mingi traced along the carvings emphasizing a continuous body of a (what he assumed as) snake, he didn't realized he had wandered far from the other two. The excitement of finding new and foreign things guided him through a pathway made of uniformly sized pebbles with careful steps, worried that the slightest miss step could torn the whole structure down.

Shaaaaa

Suddenly a slight noise rustled from the back of Mingi’s head and he prayed for the love of mankind and elvenkind for it to be either Hongjoong or Seonghwa.

”H-Hey is that you? Joong? Hwa?”

But whatever it was, they scurried back. Mingi cursed his bigger-than-cowardice curiosity. As he traced the slight thumping sounds, he found a house that was completely opened. Mingi took one step after knocking to whoever it was inside. The house was sleek, and like any other buildings in the settlement, it was made of rock bricks. Natural themed furnishings adorned the interior with white color dominating the shady side of the spectrum. It made the house looked way neater and more spacey than it actually was. Mingi looked at the dead branches hanging from the tall ceilings and assumed that if it was greener, it would accentuate the aesthetic of the design more.

Thud

The noise came softer this time, almost like the soft surface of flesh brushing against the wooden floor. Mingi peeked further inside and sighed. What was hiding behind a book shelf whimpered at him. His warm chocolate mane covered in dust and golden eyes gazed nervously at Mingi. With the coliding mixture of relief and worry, the redhead went along the paw prints to back of the shelf.

”Hey Yunho, what are you doing here, boy?” Mingi crouched down to hug the whining canine. ”We messed up. I don't think we can stay together anymore...” In normal days, Yunho would lick his face wet in record time but today’s Yunho barely snuggled back against Mingi’s red hair.

”So even you would like to stop playing house, Yunho-yah? Am I the only one who thinks we can be, I don't know, comrades or something? We have such chemistry, and all the singing, sharing, poopy scraping, I don't know where this would go from now. My own family is shit too.” Honestly, confiding to a dog might not be able to change anything, and by anything Mingi meant Hongjoong’s wellbeing, Seonghwa’s feelings, the elven remains, Yunho’s brilliance, and the new home where he could find fulfilment without having to downplay the existence of a Song Mingi.

”Hngg~” Yunho cried some more, giving empty answer to Mingi’s melancholy.

”Hhh. I’m gonna get myself together. This sinking ship might still be worth saving. Come on cheer me up, boy!” Mingi stood up, dusting off the stubborn dust clinging on his coat. He ruffled Yunho’s head and went back to inspect the house, to be exact, the bookshelf. There were surprisingly lots of books still sitting pretty in the shelf. Mingi traced the tip of the books, mostly thick and hard covered. He took one and opened it, only to find scribbles that were definitely not in common tongue, probably elven tongue. The memories of Hongjoong suddenly sang in a different language slightly confirmed his suspicion. As he went along with the pointless page flipping, none were understood and the absence of images made comprehending an even tougher job to do.

Creak

The wooden door squawked, provoking Mingi, whose back was on the door to support extra goosebumps on his nape. This time it better be Hongjoong or Seonghwa!

”Hey Mingi, how do you- OH MY GOD DON'T TOUCH THAT!!” Thankfully it was Hongjoong. What Mingi was not thankful for, was how Hongjoong dived head first to yank the book from Mingi’s hand. Judging from the supersonic reaction alone, he would've thought that the book might contained dangerous magic which would be activated when opened, or the book was actually a key to treasure chest and would break if someone touched it carelessly. But Hongjoong’s face was beet red. The contrast with his pale hair and skin was overwhelming.

”You might be aware that I’m not an expert in elven tongue, but please correct me if I’m wrong that it’s not your diary containing your puppy first love and a bunch of romantic lyrics of your first wet dream.” Mingi sneered at Hongjoong who kneeled on the floor with Yunho beside him.

”NO IT’S NOT!” He barked. Hongjoong would bark if Yunho was not going to do that for him.

”Realllyyyyy~~?”

”Urgh... No it’s not my first wet dream!”

”HAHAHA! Oh my God this ’Hongjoong thing’ is so fun!!” Putting all the melancholy behind him, Mingi fell to the floor, cackling because the fierce Hongjoong was actually the kind of stupid who put a masturbating diary on a family bookshelf. Yes, family, if Mingi’s suspicion was right, the house belonged to Hongjoong. He said that he lived with his parents and the number of chairs, beds, and everything matched.

For a moment, they forgot about how this was supposed to be a confirmation of Hongjoong’s ambiguous status. Seonghwa, the only one who was not swayed by the light heartedness was standing outside the door, almost conceding to the fact that none of this abandoned settlement seemed harmful to his village. The only things that resembled weaponry were cooking wares and shovels. So maybe Hongjoong really was just an accidental leftover from a migrating community, or he could also be a bait to lure people out (for whatever reason) while the rest of the village waited elsewhere for an ambush. But whatever the truth was, the fact that him and Mingi was already there made Seonghwa wished the later to not be a reality. Even though irritating somehow, and one of his precious rabbit was thrown into his stew, Hongjoong was a pretty decent man. And as unnecessary as it was, a damn pretty one alright.

”I think I’m done looking around. Shall we go back?” Seonghwa muttered, almost to himself but his dull voice broke the banter between Hongjoong and Mingi and suddenly the air was heavy again.

”Do you trust me now? Do you want me to beg?” Hongjoong’s squinted his brows. Seonghwa could feel the slight twinge in Hongjoong’s words. The only thing he learned from years of getting forced to do what he didn't want to in his backwards village, was that any decent person would be irritated if they were suddenly impeached for something bad. That alone brought light onto Hongjoong’s alleged decency.

”Yeah. For now. It’s getting darker, let's just go back.” Even though Mingi still had tons to see and to learn from, he agreed to Seonghwa’s suggestion. He put the book where it belong and headed to the door but Hongjoong chose to sit on the wooden chair instead of standing up.

”You guys go. I’m staying for the night. It’s been a while since I’m home. Have things to do.” The elf said, clearly punctuated and the two, especially Mingi, understood. Hongjoong was about to recollect his existence and perhaps brought about new vision as to what he was going to do next. None of the two interfered.

After excusing themselves to Hongjoong, Mingi and Seonghwa went back, only to marvel once again under the magnificent gateway. They both were silent most of the time. In between turns, Mingi ensured himself to make a chance on convincing Seonghwa that Hongjoong was just as human as they were minus the pointy ears.

”I almost cried when I first met him, you know? I begged him for my life. Now, if I know elven tongue I’d know how he masturbated.” Mingi swung the flimsy branch he found as a company once he realized he missed Yunho for the second time in a day. Considering the reality he was in, it was, however, understandable that Hongjoong wanted to keep Yunho on his side, and Yunho being Hongjoong’s loyal bodyguard from day 1 was not going to go along with peasants such as Mingi and Seonghwa.

”He said to me..” Seonghwa paused and hesitation struck Mingi too because it was the first time he gave him a multi-sylable answer. Along the way it used to be just ”yeah”, ”hmm”, and ”uh-uh”. ”He said to me I am stupid and that I should stop being a butcher if I don't want to.”

The butcher stopped as he was not sure himself where he was heading with this conversation. But to be honest, Seonghwa had been unsure his whole life and he sabotaged himself by being unsure of being unsure. Hongjoong just made it clear that the insecure little butcher boy spent his life struggling for nothing.

A fat silence brood over them while both men toiled with their own thoughts. There were parts of half-boiled notions that hung in the air, too incomplete to be called ”arguments” yet too heavy for it to be meaningless.

”Freedom.” Mingi squeaked suddenly, earning Seonghwa’s focus. “His whole existence screams freedom. Isn't that what draws us to him?”

No other words came forth until Valkyrie’s distant neigh broke the silence. Even with the darkening hue of the looming sunset, Mingi’s remarks only made everything clearer. Hongjoong might be everything unprecedented for them but there was this specific part of him that made Mingi and Seonghwa so envious that along the way, that envy shifted into something else. Longing.

”Need a ride home?”

”You go first. I have to tend the rabbits.” Seonghwa muttered weakly. ”And I need some air.”

~Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all we have Solar from Mamamoo (for those who aren't aware and would like to see an image)
> 
> P.S. Kudos and comments are much appreciated 🙏


	5. Chapter 5

“Where are you going?”

“Somewhere.”

For the past week Mingi had gone out almost every day whether or not his father was present. The Song family head put his breakfast down while ogling his son with his skeptical eyes.

”Be more specific.”

”Like ’not telling me that my whole life has been promised to someone else’ specific?.” A sleek khaki mantle hung low on Mingi’s broad shoulders, threatening to fall at the slightest waver of his tone. But Mingi was complacent enough to not let his mantle sliding off his shoulders.

”Just meet her. I’m sure Lady Solar will change your mind.”

”She’s a lovely lady. I would marry her without thinking twice.”

”So what’s the problem? Is it the age difference?”

”My problem? You.” It broke Mingi’s heart seeing his mother averting her eyes from the wooden table. Out of all Songs, he couldn't understand his mother the most. Her brown hair rebelled against the strong crimson, a reminder of her gray foothold within the family. His mother was not compelling nor supportive, she just stood by the sidelines, watching and doing nothing. What she did the best was baking the most delicious meat pie in the world and giving Mingi a hard time of feeling any sort of attachment to her. So he took the only thing resembling the warmth of a home, shoved it into his mouth, and stormed out of the house.

Honestly, Mingi didn't like the feeling of not knowing when he could taste his mother’s meat pie again. But he almost had enough of those over proud rubies. He got a more urgent matter waiting for him in the hut.

\----

It was the same cabin with the same familiar musky odor once Mingi opened the door, slightly surprised that the whole hut was looking like a brand new house regardless the worn out furnitures. However, it looked frigid. Everything was put in order, so in contrast with how it looked every other days, out of order yet very comfortable. Mingi always knew Seonghwa secretly planned a revenge on Hongjoong’s sloppy way of living but he didn't expect him to reconstruct the whole structure in such a short time.

Just a day prior, the both of them were exhausted both physically and mentally while their friend refused to come back. Today somehow Mingi was feeling hopeful to be greeted by the ragged house with a bouncing dog and a high spirited elf asking for dumplings. But he clenched on the dumpling pouch as the silence of the rabbits welcomed him.

“Oh my gosh Mingi you surprised me!” An every day Mingi would be terrified if he heard a low voice suddenly shouted from behind. But today’s Mingi was too unmotivated to react so he let Seonghwa raised himself to a seated position. The man’s hair was tousled and his usually sleek apparel seemed dull because it was the exact same outfit he wore yesterday only a bit more worn and a day older.

“Waiting for someone else?” The redhead uttered lowly.

”I.. I don't know. I spent the whole night thinking.”

Mingi put the dumpling bag on the table. His negative energy was mostly wiped out seeing the apologetic, almost depressed look on Seonghwa’s face.

”If I was my father, I would definitely run back and tell the guards. But look what I did? Cleaning rabbit shit? Sweeping his house and made everything looks shiny?” The raven plopped himself back on the couch, mentally erasing the thought that he might even have to apologize to Hongjoong. Along the way of co-parenting his little furballs with the elf he drove away, Seonghwa actually regarded Hongjoong pretty highly for his independent way of thinking, which he lacked the most. As a fellow creation of nature, Seonghwa wanted to believe that they could exist in the same locale but unfortunately he wasn't brought up believing to that kind of system. The system where people were able to think for themselves. And Hongjoong kind of slapped that thought off of him.

”He did nothing.” Mingi left a space where Seonghwa almost chimed in but he didn't because Mingi tolled faster. ”And he even said to me, that proud bastard said to me that perhaps he should stop being a jerk to you. Elven society is pretty tough, you know? He said he could be disowned if he got caught snatching someone’s poultry, yet you still made him dinner.”

”So what are you implying?”

”I’m saying that, we can make this right. Keep everything at bay until he leaves. And then you can do whatever you want.” He didn't mean it to be, but Mingi’s words came out forlorn and somewhat lonely. Maybe it was Mingi’s face, or his enunciation, or maybe the fact that once Hongjoong and Yunho were gone, the hut would lose it’s function as a ”home” and it made him brood twice as much.

The mood seemed to get to Seonghwa too as he rustled with the blanket and folded it in an unnecessary rush. There went one perfect forenoon to the land of the depressed. If only Mingi was as bold and as happy as his usual self, he wouldn't forget to lift up Seonghwa’s spirit too because instead of pointing fingers, there were so many things that could be done. Such as taking a short trip to the elven village and talked Hongjoong out. But his father’s presence that morning just threw his optimism off the valley.

It was not his fault that an arranged marriage ruined his long planned, adventurous life.

_Bang_

As if on cue to make things better, or, went to any direction for that mattered, the rusty door creaked open not so quietly. But instead of showing that cocky elven grin, Hongjoong slumped forward, on to Mingi’s more than willing helping hands. Mingi’s mind went back to where Hongjoong immediately rushed to his side when he was attacked by an unknown degenerate. He would offer the elf any sincere helping hands he could offer. But this time, Mingi’s guts affirmed something else.

Hongjoong was a dependable, and perfectly capable young man. He stood bravely in front of a beast, but this Hongjoong was trembling, small, and exhausted. It took Mingi seconds to feel a warm sensation soaking his laps only to realize that his once light colored pants were dyed crimson. Another set of ugly depictions on what might happened tugged Mingi from behind, prompting him to quiver, to break down and be useless. But this was different. This was where he didn't have any room for any error, because whatever thing that just happened, the top priority was Hongjoong. It was his best friend, bleeding while struggling to stay afloat on his own consciousness.

Mingi dared himself to swipe away the thought and tears. He bit back the ”shit joong what happened to you?!” and instead carefully lifted the petite body to the nearest elevated flat surface. If this was just another peaceful day, Mingi would surely clap and congratulate himself for doing such crazy things in such a calm manner.

”It h-hurts! Bottom le-left. Check it please!” Hongjoong chocked on his own saliva while Mingi marveled at the way the elf was still able to use polite exclamation despite his condition. After committing to a short lived panic attack, Mingi was back on his track again, flailing his arms to make more room for Hongjoong on the wooden bench. His right hand was trembling as he lifted Hongjoong’s torn tunic to catch a glimpse of open wounds, blanketed by thick layer of crimson. Mingi didn't even care how much tears he failed to hold back but it mattered now that they blocked a good proportion of his sight.

”F-fuck what should I do?!” Minggi uttered to himself, trembled and low. The blood gushing out of Hongjoong’s gut didn't help anything but provoked more walls to break. Compared to other people within the country, Mingi knew pretty much a lot of things thanks to his educated noble ass. He knew theories about basic medic, but way too shallow in an application level.

”Get off if you’re not gonna do anything, Mingi.”

A hand behind him yanked Mingi to the side. Admist all the sudden emergency storm, he completely forgot that there was another person in the room, the one who’s presumably way more familiar with bloody fleshes even if it’s not human, or elf for that mattered.

With relatively steady and skilled hands, Seonghwa placed a neatly folded piece of cloth on Hongjoong’s wound, wincing at how the elf screeched in pain. It never occurred to Mingi that one of the closest person to him would ended up in this situation. Yes of course he had seen guards, hunters, and other technical laborers got injured in their line of work, some of it were minor while some of them didn't make it. But he didn't know them in a personal level. No matter how much he wanted to help, he was kept on the side because it was not his business, his father said. This time he made sure to keep his eyes open while his hand interlocked with Hongjoong’s sweaty one, clutching on Mingi’s for his dear life.

”This is a spear wound. We should take you to the village.” Seonghwa muttered out of genuine concern. He was a butcher. A good portion of his customers hunted for themselves and asked Seonghwa’s household to deal with the rest. He’s way too familiar with the deep and clean cut from spears. And then he chopped animal corpses with big ass blades, lots of different kinds of big ass blades. Even though he got hurt more than once, they were just minor cuts, the worst one was the one made by the wolf and it was still fresh in his mind how the medic dealt with it. First they applied pressure, preventing more blood from getting spilled, and then they used shiny and painful liquid to wash his wound, and when he almost passed out, they stitched the wound away. Seongwha had done the one thing that could be done but he couldn't perform anything more.

”You! Fuck you Seonghwa get out of here! This is all because of you! This son of a bi- fuck! Aaaargh! Mingi we have to get out of here!” The moment seemed to stop for a while when Hongjoong suddenly lashed out on Seonghwa for whatever reason he seemed to believe. The two men exchanged baffled looks while trying to get Hongjoong to stay in his position as more blood threatened to pour out.

”What do you mean I-”

”You rat me out! Those guards! It’s your doing!”

”What guard?! I don't -”

”My village stayed hidden for hundreds of years and look who came to visit yesterday?!” At that moment Mingi realized it was the adrenaline speaking, because Hongjoong was no longer small and scared. His blood drenched hand pulled Seonghwa’s collar with a strength that no one in his condition could muster. But that tension was not the scariest thing that made Mingi shivered. It was the glistening glow in Hongjoong’s eyes that screamed ’I’ll kill you’. It made him remembered Yunho’s killer glare. Hongjoong was beautiful, yes, no one would doubt it, but this red dyed, furious Hongjoong was a sight to behold, exquisite, menacing and captivating in the worst way possible. And he was pretty sure Seonghwa felt it too because he was suddenly quiet, chocked on his own words.

”wait, WAIT! Hongjoong, just wait! Seonghwa is the least of your concern right now. And he is right you lost so much blood! You should go to the medics!” It was Mingi’s turn to be in the receiving end of Hongjoong’s murderous glare. Once again he was taken aback.

”I may not know much about your society but I know enough that they’re there to attack me. I’d rather die here than go to the village! His fucking village!”

”But Joong, Seonghwa didn't even go home last night! Is there any possibility that one of your perimeter failed and they just accidentally found you?”

”Is ”accidentally” for you means having a whole squad armed to the core hunting for you?!”

The air got thicker as Hongjoong put a finger on Mingi’s chest. The redhead halted seeing the blood dripping from the corner of the elf’s lips.

”Stop. Stop it. Mingi stop it. Don't provoke him. Listen Hongjoong. I’m being honest with you I never went home last night. And the guards are not my doing I swear to the Holy being! But if it’s true, it’s too dangerous for you to get into my village. I’ll help you as much as I can, at least I owe you that. And then I’ll go and you’ll never see me again if you like. Deal?” Seonghwa said, eyes piercing through Hongjoong’s burning pairs while his body hovered over the smaller man’s just to keep him from getting up and messed the wound even more. He deliberately applied a bit more force to Hongjoong’s wound to keep him in place, and it worked. The elf laid his back on the surface once again, head spinning as he ran out of option. Mingi was less than reliable at this state so if the only one whom he could trust turned out to be a sorry ass butcher, this time, he might just do that. Only because he saw that gravity of concern in the latter’s eyes.

”Hhhrgh. I’ll fucking ki-kill you from my grave if y-you’re lying!” Mingi didn't even realize when did Hongjoong let go of his hand, but his heart was squeezed seeing his elven friend threw weak punches to an empty surface on the bench to contain his frustation.

”Mingi, can you go to the village and buy medical supply?”

”Ye-yes I can.”

”Get some bandages, that thing they use to stitch my wound, and a-anti-fuck-anti-something to clean the wound!”

”Antiseptic?”

”Yes antiseptic! Please, hurry!”

Mingi jumped right away. Flailing around, looking for his duffel bag because he knew he wouldn't be just buying the things in Seonghwa’s list. Wound treatment took way more than just closing the wound. He forgot most of it due to the chaotic memory rearrangement he had under panic but he had time to recollect them while Valkyrie did the galloping.

”Mi-Mingi, ” it was Hongjoong ”Buy more if you could. Yunho might not be in a good condition as well..”

Yunho. Shit. How could he forgot.

——

A subtle rattle of the shaky window trickled Hongjoong’s almost deaf ears. The whole stitching procedure was done under barely competent hands with barely functioning tools. It was still clear in his memory how Mingi and Seonghwa argued upon using wine to clean the wound while Hongjoong squirmed under severe injury. With half functioning sanity the elf ended up snatching the forest green bottle from Seonghwa’s hand and gushed it upon himself, screaming.

The operation took place at day time. After Hongjoong was out for good days, the moon knocked on the sky, the sun followed it’s course just to came out again and repeated the cycle. The hut, along with other man made buildings were not exactly well illuminated at night. Just like shy fireflies fluttering along the river sides, the weak glow from Mingi’s personal hanging lanterns casted shadows upon Hongjoong, only to realize he wasn't alone. On the hammock he saw Mingi uncomfortably rolled around, feet hanging off just because the setting wasn't his fit. The sleeping rabbits curled up together forming a huge bundle of furs. If Hongjoong didn't know better, he would think it was Yunho after bathing in rabbit shit.

And then there was another one just beside him, very clearly in an uncomfortable position sitting down with both hands on the bench, supporting the heavy head that seemed to surrender to stress and exhaustion. If Seonghwa was indeed the one who called the guards, Hongjoong would be no more. Those troops would definitely be informed about the hut and they would just burn it down along with Hongjoong and whoever was inside. But there he was, laying on the bench with extra cow’s hides as paddings, all sloppily patched up.

”mmh.”

Seonghwa squirmed in his sleep. To be honest this was the first time Hongjoong had ever seen the other man in such a defenseless state. The butcher was always been an arrogant and uselessly upright bastard who always managed to drive Hongjoong up the wall. They were not the perfect match, far, far from it, but after all the things that happened, he believed that they should be back to square one, nobodies who weren't supposed to meet in the first place.

”uhh. He-Hey you’re up? How do you feel?” Hongjoong felt as if there was a string tugging his consciousness. So after being all defensless like that Seonghwa decided to pamper him with his groggy morning voice? Where was the Seonghwa who threw Hongjoong off his hammock because he woke up late? Where did the mountain of heavy nagging go? He shivered at the thought and pushed them out of the way.

”Shitty.” He answered short and clear. He also realized that his voice was equally, if not more scratchy for all the screaming he did under the risky protocol.

”Here you need water.”

Well at least Hongjoong could appreciate that. He felt like a rock being washed after months of nasty drought as cool water flushes the ragged wall of his throat. Before he knew it, he had gobbled the flask clean out of the thirst from exhaustion. His crappy body craved for refreshment.

Upon recollecting his thought, unpleasant sensation from his midsection crept up his spine. Hongjoong actually thought that his sensory system had completely collapsed under the operation table when he even stopped responding due to the massive pain. At one point he just laid there with blank eyes and buzzing ears, no more heart crushing pain and desperate growl. He was THAT close to leaving the world with curses for Seonghwa on the tip of his mouth.

”Ugh. Argh! What the fuck!” the bastard pain suddenly chose to came back after missing Hongjoong for some time.

”Relax. It’s just your body readjusting to the injury. At least that’s what the medic told me.” Seonghwa took the plain cloth sitting on Hongjoong’s forehead and replaced it with a new one, cool and wet, very pleasant on his skin. ”They also said you might have fever so keep this on your head.”

”These are supposed to be used when I get the fever, genius.” The elf oddly chuckled. It wasn't like they only had sour moments together. There were lighthearted moments between them too, especially when Mingi and Yunho were present. But he just escaped another death and the first thing Hongjoong did was joking with ”the” ass? Did he crossed the bridge of life and death already?

”You literally mean it when you said you feel shitty, I feel it too!” The later snatched the wet towel from his patient’s forehead, totally embarrassed, and even if Hongjoong tried his best to suppress a smile, it still bloomed. It was such a weird, weird day.

”Joong you’re awake?” a clattering sound came from Mingi’s direction. The redhead hurriedly barged towards Hongjoong’s bench. His bedhair was wild. Worry painted his face white even though he wasn't on the death bed himself. Such a pure thing, Hongjoong thought.

”Awake and shitty.” Seonghwa retorted in relief, masked by his usual Hongjoong-induced bitterness.

”Holly mother of God that was the most intense moments in my whole life. I thought you were dead, Joong. You were stiff like this.” Mingi recreated the lifeless Hongjoong from before, down to his very expression. ”And Seonghwa almost drowned from his own sweat I mean look at him, the sun had set twice and he’s still wet. If you could imagine how gross he looked while stitching you up!” The animatedness. So Mingi. No heaven or hell could ever imitate him this well and for that Hongjoong was sure he hadn't crossed that bridge. He would, someday, just not today.

”Yeah I can definitely imagine. He’s so gross.”

”And you’re not?”

”Dude you flirted with me remember?! Ooouchh.” Hongjoong’s wound ached again, resisting his will to get up, but the two sprightly support him, preventing the back of his head from hitting the bench. ”By the way, any of you seen Yunho?” Hongjoong gritted his teeth. The atmosphere went down again as the two shook their heads.

”You haven't told us the full story. I snuck around the forest to avoid the guards but I haven't seen him anywhere.” Mingi sat down and gnawed on his apple after throwing Seonghwa one. He handed Hongjoong a banana, a relatively softer food but very nutritious.

”I wish I could, Mingi. They just.. They just barged in when I was asleep. Yunho came to my aid but there were a lot of them. When I ran off we got separated.”

”Once the sun rises, I’ll go around the forest to look for him. Valkyrie will take me so you shouldn't be worried.”

”Mingi it’s too risky. You might even lead them here. I think it’s better for us to stay low for a few days, just to make sure.”

Two pairs of eyes wondered from Seonghwa’s direction to each other. The last thing they need was a bunch of military soldiers on their tail.

”If you wanna stay for days, you better change. You guys reeks.” Hongjoong decided to not perster the two wether or not they were sure to stay for days. Both of them had a place to call home, a family waiting for them. But Hongjoong wasn't sure if he could survive being by himself. He could barely eat a banana, he would certainly love to use a little help.

The elf pointed on a stash. Inside, colorful fabrics were neatly folded, each one was unique and different from the other. There were a lot of models and colors but unfortunately none of it fitted Mingi well. The loosest one hugged Mingi’s built weirdly, so he decided to just ditch the wardrobe and went around topless. Meanwhile Seonghwa got to wear a white shirt with dark tulle beautifully hanging underneath the slight slit of the white. It would certainly complemented Hongjoong’s petite form but it raised eyebrows when Seonghwa’s manly frame mashed with the frills and it made Mingi laughed so hard.

_Thud_

The sound was weak, all three of them missed it the first time around. They were too busy laughing at each other until a louder thud came knocking on the door. Immediately, Mingi and Seonghwa took a stance since they hadn’t really brought about any plan to cover Hongjoong should they had an uninvited company. Seonghwa reached for the scissors on his side while Mingi grabbed the whole chair.

_Thud thud_

”Hnngghh”

The tension in Mingi’s shoulders lessened bit by bit as the familiar thuding sounds came accompanied by a muffled whimper, a familiar whimper of his darling hero. He ditched the chair and rushed to the door. Under the dim light, a mesh of red and brownish mix lunged forward to greet him with weak snuggle.

”Yunho!”

It’s heartbreaking to see the usually energetic Yunho lost his vigor, but that was not the main concern for now. Different with Hongjoong who self diagnosed and was more than direct when solicited an assistance, Yunho continued to whimper as Mingi explored his bloody mane, palpating the soft fur to search for any open wound. Most of the blood, most likely wasn't his, and for that Mingi was thankful. He found minor cuts here and there but the one on his foreleg might be the worst. It was red and swollen but nothing indicated open fracture. The possibility of bone fracture still exist but thankfully nothing life threatening, at least for now.

Mingi let Yunho licked his wounds. He knew a lot of dogs did that.

”Okay that’s four of us now. We better rest.”

He blew the lantern off.

\----

When he was five, Mingi had a fight with his brother. His memory was kinda hazy but the scratch on the wooden pillar of his gazebo was clear and sharp, reminding him on how hard he threw his naker out of rage. Even then his family already knew something was wrong with him. Regular Songs had redish hair, more often in a darker spectrum of red. They showed knacks on instruments and melodies from early stage but Mingi with his fiery red hair went on strong with his percussions.

Little Mingi, of course, like other 5 years olds went into tantrum when his brother kicked his naker on the head. He remembered throwing the rest of the instrument so hard it left dents on the structure. His brother ran away crying and the next thing he knew he spent several nights sleeping on the gazebo. He didn't bothered to clarify things because even as kids he was always seen less than his siblings in his parents’ eyes.

”Oh Mingi you surprised me.”

Mingi wanted to hug his mother. Yes he did. Even if she wasn't the best mother, she wasn't the worst either. Her long wavy hair was tied in a low pony tail, showing the aging skin of her nape. She was as beautiful as Mingi remembered her to be.

”Mom.” he paused, regaining confidence. ”Do you remember when I almost hit Hee and dad made me sleep outside for days?” Mingi traced the nostalgic dent on the floor. A lot of things brought unpleasant feelings in his house but strangely enough it warmed his heart, almost like a satisfaction that he had through with it.

”Yeah.” His mother answered him flat.

”Hee kicked my naker first. It was beyond repair.” He muttered under his breath.

”Yeah. I know.” Mingi might fool himself into thinking that his mother sounded the least bit guilty, but he couldn't fool the only memory that was so crystal clear that day. The kitchen window had a good view of the gazebo. In the midst of the childish quarrel, he met eyes with his mother. She was baking meat pie when the incident happened. And as far as Mingi noticed, it didn't change anything. He still spent the night outside, alone, and the meat pie tasted like dog food.

Mingi went on to hug his mother nonetheless, driven by a mix of gratitude and disappointment. 15 years later and he still couldn't figure out how her mind functioned. His mother was calm and gentle as usual in his arm, only her shoulder got wet from his blues. The Song family might be famous for their elegance, their moving orchestra, and the passionate play, but truth be told, they squeezed out their emotional sac too much on stage there was nothing left. Mingi was even surprised there were still Songs left who had their heart in the right place because his shoulder was wet too. He thought if there’s only one thing that could tie him to the household, it would be a mother-son bond.

But unfortunately, it was not enough.

”Take care, mom.”

\----

”Mingi are you sure about this?”

”Yeah.”

”But your family? Your life?”

”Never have a life in that family. Might wanna look for one myself.”

The energy radiating from Yunho’s bright eyes washed a ceasing uncertainty in Mingi. Within the days he spent together patching up Hongjoong and Yunho, he realized something. He hardly ever came home. In the beginning he just wanted to see how actually significant he was in the household. If he was gone for several days, would that change anything? But the fact that the name of Lady Solar always escaped his father’s mouth whenever he’s home confirmed his true worth. Only then he vowed to leave the house.

”I mean you can have your own journey. I’m going a long way and will not come back.”

”All the more reason to go with you. I may not be the best fighter but I’m pretty sure you can use some help.” The redhead pulled out a sack full of jingling gold. He went through his own preparation when he was home, including securing his savings, taking whatever things that might be useful for traveling, and sending goodbye to his mother.

There was actually guilt of taking things from his family. Even if the gold was from his own saving, the high quality travel kit, saddle, and sweet Valkyrie were of his father's. But there were many ways to see how it supposed to be. If his siblings could hog all the love and respect from his family, Mingi thought that it was only fair if he could bring the horse whom he nurtured from a filly who gave him more love than any of his family members could ever give.

After one last determined look on Mingi’s face, the elf renounced his qualm. Indeed another company would give him extra insurance even though Yunho was enough, more than enough maybe. And everything wasn't about battles. If Mingi wanted to go out there, Hongjoong was in no shoes to say otherwise. Who knew they’d find something more, an adventure, a story that’s worth telling. And who would be a better storyteller than a wondering ruby?

”Just please don't die out there Mingi.” Mingi threw his gaze to his side where Seonghwa busied himself with cleaning leftover mess, the dirty cloth, stubborn blood stains on the floor. He put his attentive hands on whatever things he found, anything to keep his attention away from a certain someone.

Even Mingi’s silly ballad couldn't melt the tension when Seonghwa surrendered to his guilt. When everything seemed to progress well and Hongjoong was more open to receive Seonghwa’s attention, the butcher then dropped to his knees asking for forgiveness. Apparently he talked to his mother about the strong and beautiful man he met in the woods. That his appearance was so out of this world and his golden hair was the fairest thing Seonghwa had ever laid his eyes upon. At that time Seonghwa knew nothing about Hongjoong’s true self but he just couldn't keep it to himself, he needed other people to adore the creature who was worth every praise.

The thing he wasn't aware of was that the rumour about elves roaming in the woods was rampant in his village, and the slightest whiff might drove the whole village for a raid.

Days after days Seonghwa spent his time taking care of Hongjoong and Yunho, he didn't come home even once. And for those days after his confession, Hongjoong refused to talk to him, closing himself even more.

”I won't. I’ll see you again here and we’ll have tea with your rabbit’s grand children.” He smiled. Mingi knew Seonghwa meant well. He was one one the softest person he had ever met, but the crack in their trust had turned Hongjoong eyes blind.

”Woof!” Yunho jumped to lick on Seonghwa’s face, making the lump in his throat even heavier. But at least the canine had healed completely. If there was one thing that made him stay up to this point without Hongjoong stabbing him with a rake, was that his sloppy patch work saved their lives. With the addition of elven herbal ointment, Hongjoong’s wound healed well and he was strong enough for a journey. Hongjoong couldn't close his eyes on that.

The two still had their backs on each other, Seonghwa cleaning things while Hongjoong got his backpack ready. Mingi only sighed, patting Yunho on his head. Too bad he couldn't make things right in the end.

”I’m ready.” Hongjoong’s words rang like a bell, calling for Mingi’s resolution for the last time.

The later took one confident step towards Seonghwa and pulled him in a hug, patting his back only to get patted back.

”Take care of yourself.”

Hongjoong spared one final glance towards the butcher. The one who showed him that everyone deserved affection no matter how big of an asshole they were. Maybe in another life they could be friends, comerades even, because if things didn't go this way, he quite liked the guy.

”We’re going north.”

~Continued


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry for the late update. I have a writer's block so I ended up writing another ATEEZ fanfic for stress release. I have two series on my hands right now I hope I can finish both series safely.

Sometimes imagination helped you go far, and other times they slapped you down when the harsh reality knocked on your sorry door.

”Hey what day is it?”

Every tales Mingi heard was full of story, conflict, romance, battles, everything that could make nobles’ lazy asses opened their eyes and for once appreciated things that wasn't money nor empty avowal. The thing they left out from those great tales was, of course, the voids between occurrences.

”I don't know. Thor’s day, maybe.”

”What? You mean Thursday?”

”That one day after Woden’s.”

”You mean Wednesday?”

”Is that how men call days?”

”It’s Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tue-”

Two sets of eyes met with brilliance in full display. If one didn't know better, they might think the pair of travelers found a treasure chest or something closer to the world’s secret rather than similarities in day naming.

”Wait wait wait Mingi it’s Saturn’s, Sun’s, Moon’s, Tyr’s-”

”Woden’s, Thor’s, and sshh sshh lemme guess, Fire’s?”

”No, it’s Freya’s.”

”Shit.”

”Woof!”

Every little thing, at this state, was as interesting as a treasure chest would ever be. That was how bored the two were. Mingi kicked the walking stick he made out of a cider branch. It had been barely a week and they were in the straightest path to the next village. Everything went reasonably well if they didn't count how much Mingi’s bowel protested every single food they ate along the way.

”Oh my God it’s one week already?” The musician strummed his lute for the hundred times that day, singing to the third stodgy ballad he composed along the way.

”It’s only one week, Mingi. You can expect a lot more to come.”

”But duuude where’s the adventure?!”

”Woof!” Yunho made a circle around Mingi’s feet. He’s the only thing that tied Mingi to his original excitement regarding this ’should’ve been’ an epic journey. They started out strong when they headed out of the woods. Mingi could even sketch more than five heroic motets but he settled with two.

”The adventure is, Mingii, waiting for you taking dumps after dumps and hence we haven't reached anywhere!” Hongjoong on the other hand, could really appreciate calm in the journey. After getting torn and stitched, he would love to have a sanctuary first before going out for more adventures.

”Joong your cooking sucks.”

”Your noble-belly just too weak for this world.”

”But this noble-belly got us good food and warm bed last night.”

Mingi could understand why Seonghwa and Hongjoong spent a lot of time bantering now. Having arguments with Hongjoong was, in a retrospect, a lot of fun. The elf always had ways to get back to you, sometimes in a clever way, and other times, not so clever. A good portions of those times Hongjoong spent brooding, pissed, but his cute little pout only made Mingi adored him more. One could never get mad towards this man.

”And that noble-belly will continue to do so.”

The redhead plucked a blowball from the side of the road nonchalantly and handed it to his companion.

”Will do, my lord. Now make up?”

”Laaaamee.” Hongjoong blew the yellow buds away from him, earning light laughter from Mingi. If this wasn't the 56th blowball stem Mingi ruined just for his own muse, Hongjoong would accept the offer. Even though the flower bloomed everywhere on the sideways, Hongjoong appreciated the beauty it exhibited. The yellow, in such contrast with the azure sky and green of the grassland, more often than not raised solace in between their wearying steps. Only this time his patience cart was full of dying blowball so he threw it away.

”HEY STOP!”

Mingi and Hongjoong halted immediately as they heard a voice shouting from behind. Hongjoong in particular, automatically reached for his headpiece to make sure it stayed on it’s place.

Was it time? If Mingi’s heart didn’t throb for adventure, he would take a step back and ran back home because this might be it, this might be robbers, bandits, those who would squeeze them dry because Hongjoong was pretty and Mingi was wealthy.

A stranger tiptoed behind them, overlooking the freezing duo and went to take a look at something in front of Mingi. The chunk was almost as big as Mingi’s head, it was green and somewhat glowing. If only Mingi and Hongjoong weren’t so focused on hitting each other’s joke, they would definitely realized something so bizarre sitting on their way. The stranger then set his back straight and looked at them in the eyes.

”That’s an endrega egg. You step on it, their mother and a bunch of their warriors will crack you open and feed you to their larvae.”

The glowing green bundle, indeed, looked peculiar but Mingi never thought that it was an endrega egg. He knew about the creature, about how a bunch of insectoids roamed the woods and nurtured a colony. He knew, from a lecture and from bestiary literature in his library that endrega workers if threatened would summon their warrior, a goat sized scorpion, for an aid. But he never knew how they supposed to look in real life. One final glance at the egg and he thought he could be a better illustrator that the one in those books. This stranger, whoever he was, saved him from an unseen danger and he was more than thankful for it.

“How the hell we didn’t see that?!” Hongjoong was the first to break free from the freeze while the stranger stared at him, probably thinking ‘what a waste of pretty face’. it showed on his face.

“Thank you, really. You saved our lives.” Mingi added and the stranger smiled at him. The redhead observed him now that he could see the man clearer. They were about the same age, His hair was dark, swept to the back thus giving him cleaner look despite the sharp facial feature. He wore a long sleeved fitted top with quilted leather strap supporting his right shoulder. On his back, a crossbow was strapped along with a minimum set of ammunition. The man also brought a leather traveling bag with him, compact and efficient, Mingi suspected that he was traveling too. They might just be fellow travelers who watched each other’s back because why not?

“No worries. An extra set of eyes won’t hurt I suppose. You going somewhere?” The stranger shot them a friendly smile. He had a fox like smile, his eyes were disappearing. Mingi knew a lot of smiles, from the purest smile of a peasant girl when she received sweets to a smile that put you lower than hemorrhoids, but this one was kind of tricky, he couldn’t put a name to it. It wasn’t evil and it wasn’t super nice, it just floated. Maybe in real life, smiles weren't supposed to be that transparent.

“Um yeah, Blue Dale.” Mingi glanced at Hongjoong, asking with his eyes whether they should tell the stranger their destination or not. Yes he saved their lives but Mingi opted to use more precaution given their situation. But there was only one village by the end of the road so he figured it would be fine.

“Sweet! I’m going there too. Can I join you? Traveling alone is dangerous you know. And boring.” He grinned. Mingi showed his teeth too because he knew the pain, but the significant difference was that the stranger seemed to be more than capable of handling himself meanwhile Mingi almost became endrega food.

“Joong?” He asked to the stranger-mode Hongjoong. He had been overcautious towards strangers since the incident at the woods and Mingi couldn’t blame him. After given a nod by the elf, Mingi’s eyes went to his loyal companion.

“Yunho?” The dog gave him one bark, inviting the stranger to shot him a rather surprised look.

“You ask your pet for permission too?”

“He’s not a pet, he’s comrade. Isn’t he gorgeous?”

The stranger only smiled and this was the first time Yunho didn’t really vibe with someone. He was not hostile he’s just keeping a distance with him.

“Yeah he is. So?”

“I guess welcome to the team?”

“Neat! I’m San by the way. I hunt for survival so I guess I’ll be useful somehow.”

“I’m Mingi, and this is-”

“Hongjoong.” The elf cut him short. He learned from his previous encounter that keeping his mouth shut would only led to stupid assumptions so he answered short and one octave lower.

“And Yunho. I’m sorry, he has issues with strangers. If you stay long enough, you’ll love him.” 

”I’m more of a cat person, maybe he’s weary. Here, downpayment.” The man, San, threw them an apple each. Mingi received it with sparkles in his eyes. There were a lot of trees with colorful hanging fruits, so much that Mingi didn't even know if they were edible or not. He did experiment with one of the fruit and he couldn't say that he’s lucky. An apple tree was one luxury he didn't get to meet.

Orange hue threatened to dominate the looming sky. They decided to rest and continue the journey after the sun came up again. Mingi slept really well knowing the reliable new companion had hilarious personality and quite a charmer. Hongjoong and Yunho however, put an extra awareness for an obvious reason. After one more day they would reach the village and they would part ways with San. He could at least wait and benefitted from his specialty for the time being.

\----

”Hmm...”

”Come on Mingi, choose.”

”What if I choose wrong?”

”You’re the one with the map.”

”Uuh. The map says whichever road is fine, it’ll converge again before we reach Blue Dale.”

The four of them stood in front of a branching road. The left road had a lot of sunlight while the right was lined with medium height cider trees. Mingi thought that they could use some shadow coverage since the sun was scorching hot that day.

”Okay then we go right.”

They went with Mingi’s decision which seemed to be okay in the beginning. As they went deeper into the road, the redhead glanced over the thickening rows of trees. In more than one occasions, loud rustling sounds startled him. There seemed to be a lot of birds flying around above them but he paid them little to no attention because his mind was preoccupied by wanting to reach the main road as soon as possible. All these shades were refreshing and whatnot but when he couldn't even clearly see what was hiding behind the trees, Mingi’s anxiety struck back.

_RUSTLE_

”Wah!! Wah, what the hell.” That rustle was way louder and closer than the swishing air that bugged him before. Mingi’s heart thumped so hard it almost leaped out of his chest. So maybe what they had to pay attention to was not the things behind the trees, but instead the things above it?

”Do you feel something strange?” Mingi looked past his shoulders where he found San busily keeping his hood up. Hongjoong uncannily walked by San’s side, securing his headpiece to sit in a proper position.

”Eh? What is strange?”

”No. Nothing.”

It was weird enough seeing Hongjoong willingly took part in the conversation after avoiding their newest addition to the team for so long, and it was even weirder when him and San answered cohesively. The biggest wrong that made Mingi wanted to revise his discretion and went back to the intersection was the fact that both Hongjoong and San wore a tiny little smirk at the corner of their lips. What was going on?

”Come on tell me you-” Before he could even finish his words, a roaring wind washed the tree branches away from above them, making an almost perfect circle of a little hurricane. At that time Mingi realized how vulnerable he was, a normal human without feral instinct, in the wild. All of his companion, Hongjoong, San, Yunho, and Valkyrie those unfaithful bastards had jumped back, leaving Mingi staggered, alone in the eye of the storm.

The massive creature who was apparently responsible for the whirlwind hovered with their wings expanded majestically. Their velvet blue feathers had hints of red on it’s end. The golden crest seemed to laugh at how ordinary Mingi looked compared to the drifting brilliance of nature above him. But as his sweat glands continue to perspire, Mingi’s ears betrayed his sanity by tuning to a stunning whistle when the creature opened their beak. It was a music that was waay prettier than all Songs combined. And at that time, Mingi didn't mind dying. He didn't mind if the giant bird put their sharp talons and tore him apart. He didn't mind getting pecked to death while he closed his eyes, savoring the melodic whistle that shook even the smallest musical cell if Mingi ever had one. Maybe he was born just to experience this.

The half functioning bard might looked silly closing his eyes with arms wide open as if waiting to be lifted to heaven but he was going to die anyway, right? And none of his so called friends seemed to care so why not fucked them by looking dazzling while dying, right? The only thing he regretted was that he wouldn't live to tell the tale of the imperial beast and their divine descant to the world.

He was in the middle of accepting his fate when Mingi realized that God wasn't as good to him as he thought they would be. They weren't going to just let him die a young, beautiful, and majestic death without getting anything in return. Instead it rained shit for him. Literally, gallons of colossus bird shit fell straight upon him, reminding him that his friends wouldn't be so heartless leaving him to die like that. But those fucking annoying laughters explained really well that they didn't mind leaving him drowned in gallons of bird shit just for a good laugh.

”Oh my God! He really just-Hhahahahahahaha!! Oh my stomach!”

”Hhhahahaha! That face!! You should see that face!!”

Immediately, the giant bird flew away as fast as they came, without a trace. And their laughter was getting clearer and clearer it shook Mingi’s chest with resentment. It took him less than a second to launch himself and share the grief with his friends but unfortunately they were too fast for him. He managed to land a surprise attack on San but he refrained from pestering Hongjoong. They would need a bath soon and they didn't need San to see Hongjoong taking one with them.

”What the fuck was that?!”

”Woof!”

”No Yunho don't touch me, I don't want you to smell like bird shit.”

”That’s a cockatrice.” Hongjoong retorted.

”A cockatrice?!”

”Yeah, a big one with a really bad tummy.” San added. Of course they knew.

A cockatrice was, a bird wyvern, if Mingi wasn't wrong, they hatched from eggs that came from a cock. That sounded wrong but what was right even mean at this point? They could kill in one glance and basically unkillable. Cockatrice was not a creature you got off with only a bunch shit on you.

”Aren’t they like, ultra-dangerous or something.” Mingi said while wiping his face with his coat.

”As long as you don't fuck with them no. They are quite peaceful actually, traveler’s favourite. They are well known for their beautiful singing. Even you were enchanted, right?” Hongjoong giggled, looking way more relaxed around San now that they had a good laugh together.

”Now explain. You guys looked like you know something.”

”A okay okay. You heard lots of swishing? And there were lots of falling feathers on the road? Those are definitely cockatrice feathers. They are big, velvety feathers with red marks on the tips. Cockatrice shed their feathers when they are about to mate, or as you can see, taking a big dump. It’s wild guess but I think Hongjoong got it too.” San muttered, scraping his own share of bird shit from his trousers.

”Yeah. If there were two cockatrices, they’d surely make a lot of noises. Since it was pretty chill I supposed it was the second one.” That explained why both Hongjoong and San were so busy covering their heads when the rustling became more and more apparent. That also explained why they wore those stupid fucking grin. Those evil duo!

”It’s one of the ”treasure” of traveling, the cockatrice whistle. You know I travel a lot and this is my second time hitting the jackpot. The cockatrice is a weird creature. They only shit if there’s a marker underneath them so I’m sorry I didn't tell you anything. Hehe.” San sheepishly murmured.

”It’s my first time hearing it but I always hear the story from my mom so I really want to hear it myself. Now I know she didn't exaggerate at all. It’s just that beautiful. Thanks Mingi.” Hongjoong chimed in. The atmosphere had loosen up really well and Mingi somehow wouldn't mind getting a barrel of bird shit or two if it meant they could get more comfortable with each other because he genuinely thought that San was a good guy. Now a quick bath would be nice.

”Hey look, it’s a house. You think we can ask for help?”

”Joong you’re the only clean one, go knock the door.”

”Eeeh. Okay.” Hongjoong went over to the house involuntarily. It was pretty small, probably belonged to a small family or even a single person household. Bordering the lonely house and no man’s land was an array of celandine grass, looking shiny under the luminous sunshine. Whoever was taking care of the plants, should be incredibly persevering because they also had a neatly arranged herb garden five times the space of their own house. Colorful buds of flowers basking in sunlight, it reminded Hongjoong of his own garden at home but way neater and more quirky because nobody he knew sorted plants by the order of rainbow color. Good news for them was, with these abundance of healthy plants, there must be a water source nearby.

Just before Hongjoong raised his hand for a friendly knock, the wooden door suddenly creaked open and they all froze. What greeted them was something, or someone, who looked like they were coming straight out of a fantasy world. For Mingi and San, the awe of seeing a shiny violet on somone’s hair was almost overwhelming, but it became even harder to process when the possessor of the long and wavy strands flicked a gaze at them. The woman, with her fair skin and elegant complexion was almost too good even for a fairytale smiling like that.

Hongjoong however, saw her with a different vibe because it was almost like he was looking at his own kind, which was practically impossible because her gorgeous hair was tucked behind her ears and the perfect fillet on both her tips ensured him that they weren't from the same ancestor. When they met eyes, the woman tilted her head by the smallest angle, but she progressed into a warm smile almost immediately.

”Good afternoon. I’m sorry we ran into some trouble on our way. If you don't mind, would you care to tell us where the nearest water source is?” Hongjoong proceed politely, too polite even, because the violet lady seemed like she was taken aback by the sudden manner on her door. She glanced over Hongjoong once again, looking at the spellbound and shitbound Mingi and San.

For a while, both men even forgot that they were covered in bird shit, but the smell brought Mingi back rather quickly because he was already being rude by standing ugly and smelly, tarnishing the perfect, ethereal aura surrounding the gorgeous lady. However, if Mingi was being honest, he kind of had a trust issue towards beautiful things. One being a loud mouthed ferocious elf, one a pervert, and one gave him a nice shower of digested fish guts. He came to the conclusion that things that were too beautiful be true were best avoided until further notice.

”Oh I see. Come on this way. There’s a river nearby.” Her voice was surprisingly cheerful, high pitched but still had some weight to appear sophic and distant. She placed her harvesting basket down while Hongjoong gestured his companions to follow the lady.

”San, hey San let’s go, what are you doing?” Mingi managed to snap San out of whatever bubble he was in by elbowing him on the back. Along the way, San had been showing a reliable persona, sharp and spry. But this San looked so out of his element until the man blinked three times and followed them timidly. Maybe two days wasn't enough for anyone to judge someone else's personality. But the most important thing for now was,

Bath..

\----

”She’s not human, oh my God she’s an angel, a godsend. I’m pretty sure if we go back there she’s no more because she’s just an illusion! No fucking way she’s a mortal, I think she’s a Goddess herself!” San, he wouldn't stop squealing praises once they got away from the violet lady’s house. Mingi and Hongjoong’s ears were ringing from the sheer excitement of San’s awe towards the lady’s grand existence.

They took a nice bath at the river, Mingi and San, and the lady was more than a helping hand by letting them stay and rinse their clothes with freshly grinded flower paste to get rid of the smell. She also let them dry their wet clothes in front of her fireplace and gave them herbal tea. No wonder San was so captivated because each of her gesture screamed elegance and Mingi had to admit that not even noblewomen had that much grace in them. It only raised the suspicion for him but apparently not for San.

Hongjoong only chuckled at San’s antics. He thought he knew something about the lady after further inspection. The fact that Yunho didn't even dare coming inside the house made his suspicion even pressing. But he kept his mouth shut.

”You know, the last time I saw a guy so intoxicated with someone pretty, she turned out to be another guy who killed his pet for a dinner.” Mingi threw a sheepish grin at the elf, and Hongjoong was super ready to push his agenda on him.

”What is he dumb or something?”

”Yeah he’s an imbecile.” Hongjoong scoffed at empty air. The thought of Seonghwa haunted him back. After his injury, Seonghwa showed an abundance of attention not even his parents ever gave him. He never left his side until Hongjoong could walk on his two feet again, and that was after knowing Hongjoong was from a lineage that his village wanted to hunt down. He was almost ready to admit that Seonghwa was an admirable human being but why he had to be the source of his misery?

”You know him too, Joong?”

”Don’t Joong me.”

”Come on Mingi does that. It’s cute.”

”It’s not!”

”Wait, was that you? The one who ate his pet?”

”He’s the stupid one, I was just trying to stay alive.”

”Oh my God it’s you!”

”Haha it’s been a while since I saw the Hongjoong-thing!” Mingi spent the rest of their walk to the village squishing the sulking Hongjoong. San took more interest listening to the bard’s yodel about the tale of the Hongjoong-thing. It was funny content wise, but it was even funnier how Mingi told the tale in a non-conventional way.

San had his own share of musical adventure and the bards who went along with him (or every other singer for that mattered) usually had melodic lines and rather took their time in telling their stories. But Mingi’s verse was dense, direct and way faster than any other people he had heard, it was almost like hearing his mom nagged him for forgetting to pick the laundry when it’s raining. He couldn’t say it was easy listening but it was certainly amusing.

“No offense but Mingi maybe you should try another occupation.” San’s remark was lighthearted and meant more to break the ice rather than nitpicking but he wasn't completely fibbing about Mingi’s specialty.

“Wait until you heard the tale of the Lady Daffodil! You’ll beg on your knees for his next stories!”

Mingi did impressed San after he recited Lady Daffodil’s story but it was not enough to convince San and his makeshift musical expertise, to let him keep his title as a bard. It was funny somehow because Mingi, a bachelor of music, got schooled by a no name traveler, but San sounded cute talking about music as if he knew everything. The rehead decided to keep the title by himself no matter how much negativity the world bore for him.

\----

”Hey Mingi are you okay? You don't look good.” Hongjoong pushed the apparently overly touchy hunter off of his face. The man’s easygoing nature apparently had broken through his protective instinct. It was not like Hongjoong was an antisocial, he was actually the one who reached out to Mingi first, but when he had his true ability exposed, learning from his previous mistake, he would build lots of extra defense no matter how good of a guy one could be.

”Me? I’m fine. A little tired but fine. Let’s have some rest.”

The village was a rather big one. The stone barricade surrounding the village came up robust, signaling they won't back down easy should someone thought about conquering the well civilized village. At the town square, the buildings stood tall, some of them even had more than four stories with flower garden carpeting their tiny front gardens. As they strolled through the main street, the quartet stopped at the biggest inn they laid their eyes upon.

Lighten up by the triplet torches in front of it, the inn looked warm and welcoming. On the first level they served beer and easy food. Mingi was the one to go and talk with the receptionist to book a room for three. He already made up his mind about sharing a room with San since the man had saved him this is the least thing he could do.

”Kay one room for three. Here the key. Hum ye three good looking lads coming to Blue Dale. Just hope the witch won't eat ye.” The owner fipped Mingi’s gold coin and failed to catch it, just another sign that soberness wasn’t with him as he greet his customer. The other signs might include booze scent and drunk talking. A witch? This man needed to sober up at least in front of his guests.

”Uncle, don’t be rude. He’s handsome too. Now say ’ye four handsome lads’” Mingi dragged Yunho’s paws to the top of the desk, provoking the drunken old man to stumble back because he didn't expect the canine to be that big up close. Mingi only laughed while Hongjoong reminded San that the redhead got a canine-complex and Yunho wasn't even his.

”Ooooh big puppy come here! But careful with the witch tho. She seduce men and enchant them.”

”For real? She lives here?”

”Yea. Lots of village men went missing and got back crazy.” the middle aged man suddenly squinted his eyes and lowered his voice after glancing left and right. ”The mayor here want her be his he killed his third wifey!”

”Third wifey?? How many wives does he have??”

”Four. He could have four only. That’s why he crossed the third!”

”Why the third?”

”Oh my gosh San does that matter?!”

The four were having a good time messing around with the inn keeper as he turned out to be a bigger talker than expected when suddenly Mingi’s body dropped to the floor. Fortunately, Yunho was right beside him as he caught Mingi’s lanky body, preventing his head from hitting the ground.

”Hey, Mingi, what happened Mingi?” Both Hongjoong and San rushed to Mingi’s side. The first thing Hongjoong checked was his friend’s forehead which was apparently burning. He was right about Mingi not looking good. Even from the walk before they reached the village, the color on Mingi’s face had begun fading but he genuinely thought it was fatigue and the later himself thought that way too.

”Uncle where is the nearest medic?”

”Well boys, your in luck. My wife’s a medic. Just get him inside.”

\----

All Mingi could see was a blur, a moving silhouette of people coming on and off of his bleary sight. He felt his body moving out of balance several times, he could hear the familiar voice of Hongjoong and San panicking because apparently Mingi’s consciousness was flickering along with the rapid movement of his eyes. He also heard unfamiliar voices which were a lot calmer than his friend’s, a good reminder that if real threat came to push, his so called friends weren't going to just stay idly and watch.

Once he was laid on a comfy bed, Mingi could feel cool hands probing on his skin, squeezing and checking. He wasn't keen on how bad he was before they got into the inn but he thought that it wasn't that bad. He was exhausted yes, everyone was exhausted too, but the sudden surge of dysfunctional system in his body was alarming, it wasn't anything typical at all.

It felt like forever before the cool hand placed a wet towel on his head and forced him to drink something gut squeezing. It tasted so bad it burned his taste buds. But whatever it was, was working. His breath stabilized and his eyesight got clearer.

”Joong? What happen to me?”

”Oh Mingi thank God! I don't know you just collapsed!” The concern was real in the elf’s eyes while he was holding Mingi’s hand. It was funny how life worked. Barely a week ago they were in a reversed position, and instead of the nervous wreck Seonghwa, they had the calm and collected San. Mingi kinda missed Seonghwa, kinda missed his motherly antics especially when he was sick and attention deprived.

”This medicine only minimizes the symptoms but I’m sorry to say his illness is something I’ve never seen before. It was too sudden and abnormal. I really don't have any explanation for this. You should search for another help.” The lady placed another set of what seemingly was the rest of the medicine she brewed for Mingi earlier.

”Is there any other medics or herbalists in this village?”

”We only have one medical institution here, most probably you’ll have the same answer from everyone.”

Hongjoong greeted his teeth. Things weren't looking good. He wasn't going to self diagnose his friend but there was a big chance that this had something to do with things that were less natural but more magical. Cockatrices was one of the most magically powerful creatures he knew was real, and therefore basking in their leftover might bring unwanted consequences because Mingi wasn't even immune to grilled water frog.

”There’s only one who knows herbs and medicines better than medics.” The blond muttered.

”Who?” San interfered.

”Mages.”

”You mean the witch? She’s real??”

The inn keeper’s wife shut her eyes and let out a sigh. Her movements were soft and uncertain but she looked into Hongjoong’s eyes and gave him a small nod.

”It’s hard for me to admit but she helped us a few times before. She has her own condition and it’s best if you go to her yourself.” She continued to put ointments all over Mingi’s burning skin, one of the reason why she thought his illness wasn't caused by something natural. Normal illness incubated inside, then the bodily temperature would rise to combat the threat but Mingi’s skin was literally burning on the outside. He had reddening spots which would gotten far worse had the ointment be applied late.

”Hh. Okay.” Hongjoong raised from his seat. ”I think I know where she lives. San can you accompany me? Yunho you stay here, take care of Mingi.” He earned a confused look from San.

\----

”You’re kidding.” San’s demeanor turned 180 degrees as the two stepped out of the town’s barricade. No more foxy smile, excited banter, or touchy hands. He had completely shut himself from his now only companion. He was confused when Hongjoong stated that he knew where the witch lived, but he got even more pressed when they went outside of the village instead of getting deeper into the more twisted side of the town square.

They had only met one person outside, and she was as wonderful, if not more, as the goddess herself. In no fucking way the lovely lady was a witch, a presence who would scare kids and captivated men for their own gain.

”Don’t you find it weird? How she has her house so far from the village? So close to the cockatrice nest? And that flower paste, the warm herbal tea, the burning fireplace? Isn't it eerily convenient? Come on it’s almost summer.” Hongjoong raised his pace and jumped on to Valkyrie’s saddle, stretching a hand for San to take. The later glared at him, not moving an inch.

”What if she’s not? What if the inn keeper’s lying? You’re only gonna hurt her.” San stood his stance, counterproducing everything Hongjoong just did.

”THIS IS MINGI’S LIFE AT STAKE! DON'T WASTE ANYMORE TIME!” San flinched a bit seeing Hongjoong losing control. His usually calm brown eyes flickering, almost glinting in menace with San in the center of his pupil looking so small with his petty reasoning compared to the bigger one which was their friend’s very own life. The taller understood that very well, but they couldn't just barge in to someone’s place, personally pointed them for being a witch and then demanded aid.

”Witches take equal payment for their services. If I can’t make it alive, at least you should make sure Mingi’s fine.”

Hongjoong’s voice appeared a lot calmer but the fire in his eyes glowed even brighter in contrast with the flex on his face. It sent chill through San’s whole body, how the man, small, petite, and pretty, could bear such tension to a man as experienced in life as San was. San himself had been through so much for a man of his age, through extreme hardship and years of fighting alone. But Hongjoong was just different, overlooking his own safety while all he saw was Mingi’s wellbeing. It was almost pure fervor regardless any quantitative experience and who was San to deny such intensity?

The raven overlooked the more obvious light blonde strands falling off of Hongjoong’s headpiece, shaken off by the continuous movement and reasonable negligence. He shook off the initial concern about that unnatural color because there was a far more important thing to be addressed. Gritting his teeth, San finally took Hongjoong’s hand and let Valkyrie galloped towards the violet lady’s hut.

At night, both Hongjoong and San couldn't recognize the single path leading away from the village. Sure they had only gone through the road once but they, especially San were experienced wanderers, they would’ve realized at least one or two unique characteristics of a location for their own damn good. However it was not the case this time, after the intersection the cider trees loomed above them, making everything pitch dark due to the denied access of the moonlight.

This was where San felt something was definitely off. His hand clutched on Valkyrie’s saddle without him even realizing. Suddenly all of their surrounding looked so bizarre and the way to the lady’s house which should not be that far felt like forever, like they were trapped in a straight maze and couldn't get out. San wanted to ask how could Hongjoong be so calm hearing the shrill cry of nocturnal animals. They used to accompany him sleeping at night when he traveled alone but now they just made his blood ran cold.

The man felt his back tensed against his will as he saw a light flickering ahead. Despite the stabbing cold from the supposedly summer breeze, droplets of sweat coated his pores in an almost mocking manner. He shouldn't be afraid, right? Because the lady was so beautiful and lovely and it was an honour to meet her again. But now another question popped out of his mind. Would she be the last person he saw in his life?

”San. Hey San, focus.” Hongjoong’s nudge on his gut broke San out of his runic trance and suddenly he could breath again. He took a good amount of oxygen into his lungs, savoring every particles wetting his needy respiratory system. The path went back to it’s passive state. No more daunting sounds and chilly wind, but the flickering light still danced in the distance.

”Joong I think I know why.”

”Why what?” Hongjoong no longer debated San’s way of calling him.

”Why you think she’s the witch. Sorry for earlier.” San bathed on his own guilt of almost interfering with their mission. He was blinded by the admiration he had towards the lady. The world was big and San was the lone wolf who appreciated people only based on what they could give him. He rarely ever regarded people so highly so the thought of thinking that highly towards someone he just met once, no matter how beautiful she was, pushed a switch on him thinking that this wasn't natural. Maybe San was already bewitched by the second he laid his eyes upon the gorgeous lady.

”Just remember, let me do the talking. You just stay behind me and always be ready to run.” San gulped hard at Hongjoong’s short briefing. He was always ready to run being a solo wanderer but San was never more ready than that night.

As the light got brighter, Valkyrie’s pace slowed down. The cider tree rows decreased in number until they reached the lone house, completely void of cider branches thus the moonlight gave them extra vision. The horse stayed outside while the two males walked silently along the celandine grass. At night, the glinting moonlight touched the colorful flower buds, giving them a filter which emphasized the more lonely, more creepy side of them. The sway of the taller growing plants be looking like small and boneless human dancing to the song of the wind. Overall, the once warm looking hut was nothing more than a creepy cabin now.

Hongjoong cleared his throat, recollecting every bit of confidence inside of him while San gawked at the hanging lantern outside the house. Inside the lantern was not a candle but instead was something shiny, as big as his thumb, floating around the interior of the glass container as if searching for a way out. He shuddered thinking that it could be a living thing whatever poor creature it was.

_Knock knock_

~Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Badly needs motivation..

**Author's Note:**

> Since I plan to make this a long series I would like your feedback on your interest in this story. Should I make it a full on story?


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